MONGREL ZINE #8

Welcome to Mongrel Zine #8. It’s been awhile since our 2009 Halloween issue but we are back with another fat digest sized fanzine! It almost seems like a new era due to the Olympics coming and going. I was supposed to have an interview with Black Orphan in this issue but I caught a 2 month flu (not a killer the ER doc said - fuck, I wished it was at some points, the symptoms were in epic stages). I was convinced this was the Olympics fault, the entire planet gangraping our pre-fab spruced up gentrified city with their flu bugs. I also washed a notebook of Mongrel Zine notes into lint pulp in the laundry and had to get cork carvings created for my solo art exhibit called Corklore at Galerie Monastiraki in Montreal that runs May 7-31, 2010. (see flyer in this issue!) Now that I’m getting longer windows of health I’m getting more and more stoked on the zine, which is mostly because of Janelle, who worked her full time job throughout having an identical flu and sacrificed her trip to be in Montreal for the actual launch in order for the zine to be produced. I was of little financial use having to cease work on my commissions to Number 8, May 2010 deal with the crunch of Corklore. Being so sick and aware of how fleetEDITORS ing life can be, I cherished the fact that I do this zine and make art, Janelle Hollyrock stuff I really love, so if I croak doing it, so be it! Luckily our contributBob Scott ers and response from the bands for interviews and our cd comilation, CONTRIBUTORS and from labels to cover the zine overhead a little with advertising and Andrea Baeza generosity with review material has been TREMENDOUS. Big thanks: Scott Beadle Frank Fingers in Montreal and Choyce of Red Mass, you’re such good Morgan A. Cook friends. Thanks for supporting the zine. Props to perps ManyMenAshley Desjardine tal Mistakes, Teenage Hookers, and my old friend Skip Jensen who Gary Pig Gold all stepped up to facilitate a venue for the zine launch May 8, 2010 Mandi Idle at Friendship Cove. I’m so sad that Janelle is missing the launch but Allan MacInnis hopefully it’ll be filmed! We plan on both being back in Montreal for Dave O’Halloran Rupert Jan Poondog the Xmas holidays, when we hope to launch issue #9 so hopefully there Skinny Tim will be another great event to supValmont port this little DIY print fanzine.

I hope you enjoy our publication, MARK SULTAN warts and all, and the various SUBHUMANS artists’ cd compilation that compliTANDOORI KNIGHTS ments it. This issue has so many JACUZZI BOYS great artists, big thanks to Mark THOSE DARLINS Sultan for shooting back his answers JAMES T. KIRKS so fast at the last minute. Thanks SPIDER go to Ian Macpherson for having STUDENT TEACHER me as a call-in interview on his MUSIC REVIEWS Go-Go Radio Magic Show (CJLO) JOHNNY SAMPSON on Friday, April 30th (6-8pm), and COVER WENDY NORTON Mathieu Beausejour for having me Photo by Pablo Prieto taken at WHITE WIRES on Les Éboueurs Du Rock (CISM) Point Ephemere in Paris Feb 2010 Layout by Bob Scott THE MIDWEST BEAT on Monday, May 10th (8-10pm). Now I’m ready to catch up and take new SONIC AVENUES CONTACT art commissions for the summer!

BLOODIED BUT UNBOWED mongrelzine@gmail.com OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SAY… Until next time!

BUY ONLINE AT (Bob Scott) MR. CHI PIG www.mongrelzine.ca MEIKO KAJI RETROSPECT © 2010, Mongrel Zine. No part LIT REVIEWS of this publication may be MOVIE REVIEWS reproduced without asking us first.

LIVE REVIEWS

CONTENTS

years to prepare my mind for something that I have no idea of until I meet it. I hate possessions. I purge shit every few years and then go traveling or whatever. It makes me happy. I never really had a bunch of stuff. The one time I did, an ex-girlfriend decided it was all hers. Hahahaha. Karma is a bitch.

This interview took place in two parts so it jumps around a little but I think I got the facts straight!

BOB SCOTT: A lot has went down since the last interview in MZ#3 from 2008 (online at www.mongrelzine.ca). The Almighty Defenders LP came out on Vice Records and you’re playing shows all over whenever you can align them. INVISIBLE GIRL (In The Red) came out and you toured North America with that (Tastebuds tour Nov/Dec 2009). How did that go overall?

MARK SULTAN: The last KKBBQ tour was fun, but kinda ended on a sour note due to legal matters. Great crowds, lots of unreasonable expectations not met at times, cuz we were bummed out or arguing, etc...

Next time will be awesome.

BOB: The “Hold On” 7” came out on Sub Pop and another one on ITR late last year, “I Am the End”. Anymore singles about to come out?

MARK: No more singles this year. Except KKBBQ are supposed to do a split with Fucked Up. BOB: 2010 started out shitty but but you’ve purged your worldly possessions and have been touring non-stop!

Fill me in on stuff if you can.

MARK: 2010 is a continuation for me of bad shit from last year. I can’t see it getting all that much better anytime soon.

But I’m gonna just keep doing my thing.

The purging myself of possessions is not a means to get me to Europe FINANCIALLY. I do it every couple of

BOB: You get restless at home and seem to battle boredom, yet you might be home for a total of 2 days before you take off on another tour and these “rests” tend to be recording sessions, right? Get some rest and eat your vitamins!

MARK: I just really need to move. I’m a rambler, I guess. No idea. But ya, I need to always do SOMETHING, or I go bananas. I know!!! VITAMINS!!!!

BOB: Who are you going to be sharing bills with on this tour? (Feb/Mar 2010) MARK: With King Khan & BBQ? Nobody in particular. We headline and the clubs set up bands. Hopefully good ones!

BOB: When is the record you recorded with Bloodshot Bill coming out?

MARK: I have no idea when it is coming out. The album will come out soon on Norton. We are The Ding-Dongs.

BOB: Are you gonna tour with Bloodshot Bill as Ding Dongs on the West Coast of Canada? Are you dragging Jeff as Hellshovel with you this time or is that just hopeful thinking?

MARK: As of this moment in time, it seems we will in fact be doing a stretch of shows... hopefully. But who knows. Yes, it would be me, Bloodshot Bill, and Jeff.

BOB: How about with Choyce as a Mark Sultan 4 piece band?

MARK: YES! I am hoping for sometime later this year, when I get a chance. I think it’s gonna be me & Choyce with the Mojomatics rounding out the 4-piece. We were talking about it when I recorded in Italy a few months back.

decided to do stuff with them. Nothing in my life is “permanent”, especially in a musical sense, but right now, these are nice folks. I am happy so far.

BOB: Innovative soundscapes on all of your Mark Sultan releases, Joe Meek is an influence on you... and who else as far as producers who are innovative in some way? George Martin?

MARK: Joe Meek, sure. I dunno lots of sounds, not so much producers. Not the biggest George Martin fan. A bit academic and stodgy for my liking.

BOB: You said that “Free Jazz is real punk rock” at your blues fest KKBBQ gig at the Biltmore a while back. A really good article into free jazz that Thurston Moore wrote originally ran in Grand Royal #2 (“Top Ten Free Jazz Underground”). Don’t you find deviation from normality goes back as far back as history is recorded (even within recorded music)? Do you get to indulge in listening to a lot different types of world music, since you travel a lot? Not a jazz aficionado by any definition of the term, but I

BOB: The “I Am The End” 7” is the best I’ve heard from you, it’s overwhelming. You can laugh but I cried although I am not sure why, it hit a nerve and I mourned the loss of someone.

Can you tell me a bit about what that song means?

MARK: Thanks. Its meaning is private, but is based in desperation and loss. I had a rough couple of years. I’m trying to dig myself out. The $ LP has a different version of both this and “Catastrophe”.

BOB: Your 2nd Mark Sultan LP “$” is on Last Gang Records (Metric, New Pornographers). Is this a permanent leap or just to change it up for now?

MARK: I really, really needed to change things up.

I also need to separate my projects a bit more. So I

PHOTO

BY JANELLE HOLLYROCK

TOP TEN FREE JAZZ UNDERGROUND

by Thurston Moore. Published in Grand Royal Magazine #2 1. DAVE BURRELL - Echo (BYG 529.320/Actuel Volume 20) 2. MILFORD GRAVES & DON PULLEN - Nommo (S.R.P. LP-290) 3. ARTHUR DOYLE Plus 4 - Alabama Feeling (AK-BA AK-1030) 4. SONNY MURRAY - Sonny’s Time Now (Jihad 663) 5. THE RIC COLBECK QUARTET - The Sun Is Coming Up (Fontana 6383 001) 6. JOHN TCHICAI AND CADENTIA NOVA DANICA - Afrodisiaca (MPS CRM711) 7. RASHIED ALI and FRANK LOWE - Duo Exchange (Survival SR101) 8. THE PETER BROTZMANN SEXTET/QUARTET - Nipples (Calig - CAL30604) 9. THE MARZETTE WATTS ENSEMBLE - (Savoy MG-12193) 10. MARION BROWN - In Sommerhausen (Calig 30 605) BLACK ARTISTS GROUP - In Paris, Aries 1973 (BAG 324 000) FRANK WRIGHT QUARTET - Uhuru Na Umoja (America 30 AM 6104) DR. UMEZU-SEIKATSU KOJYO IINKAI - (SKI NO. 1) CECIL TAYLOR - Indent, part 2 (Unit Core 30555) Read the full article at http:// www.saucerlike.com/articles. php?x=display&id=2

do appreciate it more as I ripen with age.

MARK: I don’t necessarily think that deviation is what makes things more punk than others. I really just think free jazz was an affront to tradition, popular taste and was particularly heavy for black folks to be getting so powerful and intelligent and groundbreaking at that point in US history. I just enjoy it and have for years. I bet you wouldn’t believe, Bob, that I was listening to this shit while in The Spaceshits, when I knew you in Montreal. I listen and have listened to many different things for years, and as time passes, I come back to that shit more and more. If I did make such a statement at a show, it was just to be an asshole.

BOB: The fact that you listened to free jazz then comes as no surprise to me!

Obligatory Mind Controls pestering here. Any more stuff along these lines?

MARK: No Mind Controls, per se. But I have a pocket full of that stuff. One day.

BOB: The King Khan & BBQ Show play shows for kindergarten classes and to children with special needs. Fun way to practice! I think this is really good and thoughtful of you and I hope you continue to do that. I guess you keep the shows cleaner like 2-LIVE CREW??? How did these shows come about?

MARK: Hahahaha! It isn’t practice to us. We actually care and wanna show kids that individualism is a valid option. Sports and conformity are not our thing and some kids have to know they can do whatever the fuck they want.

As for special needs kids, they are the best audience you could ask for. Very participatory! We love making them happy. Ya, the show is toned down on filth, but the music is still there and that’s what the kids like most - rock’n’roll is a universal key to their freak-out buttons. We were supposed to play a few kids shows on the last tour, but bowed out after our bullshit arrest, cuz it seemed inappropriate. One day, we’re gonna supplement a tour with a bunch of kids shows.

BOB: As a DIY working musician, you must feel doing some press is a necessary evil sometimes (hopefully this is more fun!) I think there is a difference between our zine and a lot of blogs with their immediate exposure (my intention is more to get stuff chronicled). There’s a lot of gossip monger supersleuth stuff going on that cheapens rock and roll but there’s also a lot of online stuff that is totally useful in chronicling rock and roll and punk or what have you. What are some of your thoughts on press? Is it strange that your legal problems were known all over the internet so fast?

MARK: I never thought it would come to the point where people would know shit about me and my friends or lie about shit to be sensational. It sucks.

It sucks when my family knows that I have been arrested (but without the actual facts) before I was even given a phone call, thanks to nosey jerks and the internet. But it’s ok. I understand.

BOB: The “Invisible Girl” artwork on the LP was by Chicago artist Johnny Sampson and Khan’s wife Lil Mama Khan did the batik version. Who’s the lucky one to keep that batik backdrop? It was genius!

MARK: Khan has it. It’s awaiting our European tour. Both artists are geniuses!

BOB: Did you and Khan get a Scion tour vehicle for that Biltmore show? Bitch as some people may about corporate funding for the arts, I kinda like them helping with art shows (see www.scionav.com) and 600 people got a free rock and roll show that was nothing less than awesome. I can handle the target demographic youth video being projected over opener Twin Crystals for the payoff of seeing The King Khan & BBQ Show anyway. I was half dead with a 2 month flu but the insane rock n roll inside warmed me back up!

“There’s no magical creatures, only lying preachers”.

It was the impetus for my Corklore solo exhibit of carvings. That line was such a sad thing to hear that I wanted to put more magical creatures back into our world, nerdy as that may seem. Thanks!

MARK: Thank Jena for that. I wrote that song originally for Mary Weiss, with other, sadder lyrics. She rejected it as too depressing. So I got Jena over, had her listen to the vocal melody, gave her 15 minutes and the instrumental track, and she wrote her lyrics and I recorded it in one take. Nice!

MARK: That was a weird one. When we were originally approached for this, they said we’d be playing with the Spits - so of course, we jumped all over it.

It ended up not being the case. I’m not gonna lie and say we shirk corporate interests, cuz we like to live off of this music. I am a punk at heart, but I am also in my thirties and work my ass off.

BOB: This show will happen about the time the remake of Clash of the Titans comes out on Blueray... so this show is also a rejection of Hollywood CGI-laden bankrupt of originality. You must prefer old Sinbad movies with the puppet animation as well. You thought the flick 2012 was a pile of crap, right? What are some apocalypse movies worth seeing?

BOB: How did Lou Reed get hip to The King Khan & BBQ Show and book you to play the Sydney Opera House?

MARK: Ray Harryhausen was definitely a master of my young movie-watching self. I love that shit. Tho I recently watched the original Clash Of The Titans, and it reeked. 2012 was unacceptable. I enjoyed “The Day After” when I was a kid, as far as apocalyptic movies are concerned.

MARK: We knew for a couple of years that he liked our shit, and he is curating the fest with his gal Laurie Anderson, and they requested we play. It’s a fucking honour.

BOB: My decapitated unicorn carving was really inspired by the line (you or) Jena Roker wrote for the track “Unicorn Rainbow Odyssey” on 2007’s THE SULTANIC VERSES:

BOB: Clash Of the Titans is a glorious mess but it has some wicked sequences... The fx were so uneven!

Calibos as played by an actor looked like the meth head version of his surly stop-motion puppet and I was so bummed that the Medusa didn’t get that goof Perseus. I’m carving the Cyclops from The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad, which I saw as a kid in the theater in the ‘70s and it blew my dome! Has Danni been hipping you to some of that realistic apocalyptic shit? (search for Alex Jones’ Fall of the Republic HQ on youtube) Alarming shit, although I question everything especially the authenticity of the credentials some of the talking heads in this propaganda-like doc... the world really is sinking!

MARK: Bah. I don’t give a fuck about impending doom. Evolution or revolution, things will change. Be thankful.

www.mark sultan.com

S u b h u m a n s C a n a d a : S t a n d i n g U n c o r r e c t e d b y A l l a n M a cI n n i s In late December of 2008, I was privileged to enter the Hive recording studios, where the three original Subhumans - Jon Card was absent - were laying down tracks for SAME THOUGHTS, DIFFERENT DAY - a two LP/ single CD re-recording of the original songs from their legendary 1980 LP, INCORRECT THOUGHTS. The band has been unable to re-release INCORRECT THOUGHTS, due to the claim on the part of San Francisco label CD Presents that they own the masters. The whole story - or at least the parts the Subhumans know - is told by bassist Gerry Hannah on his blog (anotheruselesssubhuman.blogspot.com) and in another version, by guitarist Mike Graham, on the Subhumans Canada website (subhumans.ca). The mood in the studio was fairly jocular - at one point, Gerry Hannah, who had a sore throat, commented that he had his Fisherman’s Friend in his mouth, and engineer Jesse Gander quipped back, “Who is your fisherman’s friend?” (hyuk). But the Subhumans were also working at a painstaking level of focus, recording a line, listening to it, discussing the timing and the phrasing, and then, often as not, redoing it and repeating the whole process over again. A discussion of how Gerry should deliver the background vocal for a single chorus of “Big Picture” spanned nearly 15 minutes - how aggressive should he be, how he should punctuate it, whether he could or should follow one particular alternate delivery of singer Brian “Wimpy Roy” Goble’s that was being considered, with Gerry eventually pleading from the booth as he sang “I don’t fit the big picture” over and over again, “Would somebody at least bring me a beer?” (“No beer til you’re finished!” Brian replied). It’s unsurprising that, with this much focus and care, the band have produced an album that sounds twenty times better than the original; in an odd way, Subhumans fans everywhere owe CD Presents a debt of gratitude, for making it necessary for the band to re-do their material.

At one point I was able to sneak Mike and Brian aside for a conversation, from which the majority of what follows is drawn (though a couple of Brian’s comments about touring and playing with The Trespassers are taken from a more recent phone conversation). Thanks to the Subhumans for allowing an observer into their midst! And note: Subhumans fans in Vancouver should be sure to attend the May 13th DOXA screening of Susanne Tabata’s BLOODIED BUT UNBOWED, a documentary about Vancouver punk in which the Subhumans play a prominent role!

Allan: (Vancouver punk historian) Scott Beadle was telling me that he was working at Track Records, I think, when CD Presents’ version of INCORRECT THOUGHS came out, and that he told you shortly thereafter at a restaurant or something - and that you were so shocked you spit out your coffee.

Allan: You had done nothing to authorize the release?

Mike: As far as I know, none of us have ever laid a signature to any document, which would give CD Presents the right to the record.

The official story is, the only dealings we ever had were with the Vancouver record label Friends Records, and somehow CD Presents ended up re-releasing it. And we don’t think they had any right to do that, and we continue to think that to this day.

Mike: I don’t know. When would that be...? I don’t remember exactly when I heard about it. It just sort of turned up in Vancouver - it was fairly early on, it was like ‘84 or something like that. I don’t remember the spitting out coffee - but quite Allan: Weren’t there two versions, possibly. one with a cartoon cover and one with the original cover?

ALLAN & GERRY HANNAH PHOTO BY DAN KIBKE. ALL SUBHUMANS PHOTOS ON FOLLOWING PAGES

BY ALLAN MACINNIS. CHECK OUT ALLAN’S BLOG AT alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com!

Mike: The first one that CD Presents released had the cartoon cover you’re talking about, and he also did some other stuff to it - they remixed a few of the tracks and included a couple of the songs that weren’t on the original Friends Records release. So those were some pretty substantial changes without any input from us or any permission from us.

Brian: Actually, we really didn’t play them for a long time, so this is refreshing for me, actually. I can put all these demons to rest that have

Allan: Wasn’t the second version, with the original art, more legitimate?

Brian: I think he just got more ballsy! I guess the first one he was, like, kinda neurotic or something and maybe didn’t want to steal the original artwork or something... but maybe he got more bold...

Allan: Before going into the studio, you did ask him about re-releasing the original album?

Brian: We tried to open a civil discussion with and him and he came back with a real, y’know, lawyer’s version of “don’t try anything or we’ll sue you back to the stone age,” kinda thing, I think.

Allan: Since Ferguson claims he has some sort of rights to this material - to the masters, at least - are there any worries about how they’ll react to SAME THOUGHTS, DIFFERENT DAY? Mike: I don’t see how anyone could have any possible objection to our recording this stuff. We’re not anticipating any problems.

Allan: Was it at all tedious to revisit this material - to re-record songs that you’ve already recorded?

haunted me for many years. I think these are really good songs, but there were some really poor renditions of them - everything was kind of flat and sloppy and we were - at least I was, at the time we recorded it, I was just in my early 20’s and I wasn’t paying attention to detail. I had no real skills at the time. So it’s great to go back and do this stuff so it’s going to sound great and I’ll be able to at least enjoy it myself...

Allan: You’re doing really meticulous work.

Brian: To me, I’m THRILLED with the performances on this stuff as compared to our original takes of them. I don’t know how our fan base is going to feel about it, because I know people get attached to things.

I was talking to Andrew WK with Nardwuar the other day - he just did

a version of “Oh Canaduh” by the Subhumans, and I was saying that I wish we’d re-recorded “Oh Canaduh,” as well, because I really think it was a really shitty recording, on our first single.

But he thinks it’s really great - he liked the things that probably drive me crazy.

But that’s the reality of being an artist; what other people find charming about your sloppy work, you have to live with and grimace every time you hear it.

Allan: It’s also great to have pristine new recordings of songs like “Behind The Smile” and the other extras you’re including...

Mike: That song “Behind The Smile” - both of the two on VANCOUVER INDEPENDENCE were actually recorded at the INCORRECT THOUGHTS sessions but they didn’t make the final cut for the album. We kinda had them around, so when they put out that VANCOUVER INDEPENDENCE thing, they mixed those and stuck them on there. And then they became part of the version of the album that CD Presents did.

So that’s why we’re including them - they’re all kind of from that era.

There’s those two and “Escalator To Hell,” “21st Century”, “I Gotta Move” and “Out of Place” - which is another Dimwit song. They’re all songs that we were playing at that time.

Allan: Some people have asked about what will happen with NO WISHES, NO PRAYERS - if the band have plans to re-record that next.

Brian: It’s kind of gone into the nebulous zone, I dunno - - there’s probably a few people out there bootlegging it or somethin’.

One of my projects is to try and get, like, y’know, the masters back or something. I don’t know if I can, but at least I want to get it re-released.

Allan: Is the band not in control of the masters?

Brian: No, uh... I think they’re like, in... who knows where they are actually, the whole thing got kind of confused. SST washed their hands of the project and then shuffled it off to Enigma, if I recall... I don’t really know what to do with it. We’ve got a bunch of other versions of stuff off NO WISHES, NO PRAYERS that I think are better, anyways. We couldn’t release the whole album exactly the way it is, but we could release 75% of the material in versions that sound better. (one of which, “Slap In The Face,” is presented for Mongrel readers’ consideration on

the MZ Vol. 5 CD comp included in this issue).

Allan: It’s kind of a thin-sounding album, but there are some great songs. You seemed to really speed up.

Brian: I think the whole thing is totally out of whack. It’s actually really sped up - we didn’t play that fast!

The tape was probably - you know - (laughs, indicating a sped up tape)...

Allan: Really!

Wow... I just paid $75 for it. But I’d love to hear some of that live... I’ve heard Brian do “For The Common Good” solo acoustic - it’s a really funny song. But I’ve never heard the Subhumans do that one...

Mike: We’re actually not really doing any of the songs off that right now, ‘cos we just haven’t gotten around to practicing them up and stuff like that... but we’ve had requests for some of them.

Allan: It seems like you guys really enjoy playing live, at the gigs I’ve seen.

Mike: Yeah! I don’t think there’d be much point in doing it if we weren’t enjoying it.

Allan: Before the Subhumans reunited, what was your last tour?

Mike: I think Shanghai Dog managed to make it all to Ontario and back once. Then we broke up around 1986 or something like that. I was actually in a band called Tin God, with the singer from Shanghai Dog, after that, who had even less of a cultural impact (laughs). Eventually, around the summer of 1990 I just kind of quit playing in bands.

Allan: When I talked to you a few years ago for Punk Planet, it didn’t sound like you were particularly convinced that you were going to enjoy the experience of being on the road again. Has it grown on you?

Mike: Yeah - I don’t remember exactly what I was saying back then Allan: You were talking about how the first few times you tour, it’s fun and there’s novelty to it, but after a few hundred times of lugging your gear around, that wears off a bit.

Mike: Yeah - I think I was talking about why I stopped playing music.

I was kind of a bit tired of it then - it does get to be kind of repetitive, and there isn’t a lot of reward for it - but if you can buckle down and find the internal motivation...

Brian: It’s a lot of work, really, is what it is. But besides that, there’s always some good elements...

Mike: ...You have to have the internal motivation, rather than thinking that you’re going to get a bunch of rewards for it. It really has to be something that pleases you to do. It’s sort of like being in the moment, in a way, being right where you are and

enjoying what you’re doing. Just like - with practicing, or long hours in the rehearsal hall, you can decide that it’s tedium, or you can say, “Gee, I like playing music; here I am playing music. That’s a good thing to do.”

Allan: Who are your favourite guitarists - influences, say?

Mike: It’s kind of a difficult question! I’ve never really had the ability, which a lot of people do, of listening to what someone else played and copying them and getting an influence, because they knew how to play what the other person played. I’ve never been really able to do that, or really very interested in doing that. I think it’s more a general sound that was influential to me, rather than a particular person’s playing. It’s kind of a vague answer!

Allan: Any particular bands?

Mike: Well, yeah - the Ramones, Stooges, the guitar oriented bands from the early days, the English bands like The Clash and so on would be instrumental influences...

Allan: Do you figure it’s affecting the band a lot that so far - since the reunion - you’ve only been able to play shows in Canada?

Brian: I’d say it’s probably affecting us massively! We’re basically doing what we’re doing now mostly for our own amusement. I mean, obviously there is a fan base - I don’t know how large it is, but I get friend requests all the time and stuff like that on chat sites. There are pockets of people who know about us all over the place, but we’re a pretty well-kept secret to that point. I’m hoping there will be some publicity

this year, with Susanne’s movie and the new album... But at this point, we really haven’t had a band meeting somewhere around Christmas. Jon Card’s filling in with SNFU and he’s going to Costa Rica and Australia this spring, and that kind of limits where we the Subhumans can do a show. Obviously, we’ve gotta do a CD release sometime, but I don’t know when that’s going to be.

Allan: Any other projects lined up?

Rude Norton gigs?

Brian: I’m playing with this band called The Trespassers. Jon got me in there when (Furies’ bassist) Jonathan Werner was forced to quit.

It’s me and Jon, Michael Van Neys, Howard Rix, and this guitar player Matt Hollinghead (of The Trap Doors). It’s a pretty good lineup - it’s a pretty good band. We’re contemplating doing some recordings really soon. This band’s really motivated, so hopefully we’ll get something out really fast!

Allan: Was it you that brought Jon on board to drum with the Subhumans, when it turned out Jim Imagawa wasn’t interested?

Brian: Yeah, we’ve had a pretty strong friendship since playing in DOA together. He was there at the time when we were looking for a drummer, and I knew he was a good drummer and it just sort of made sense, if he was willing to put the time into it to get him to play the skins.

Allan: I’m looking forward to

him getting back to town... Has there been discussion of the Subhumans touring outside Canada?

Brian: Well, Gerry’s got a pardon now, so... (Allan’s note: y’all don’t really need me to explain Gerry Hannah’s backstory, do you?).

Allan: Oh, good! So it’s possible then?

Brian: Well, we’ll see - he’s going to have to go to embassies and stuff like that and see about granting work visas and stuff like that. I think we could line up a tour all right - I’m sure we could find promoters who would put on shows for us, but there’s no point in doing that until we find out if we can actually enter the country. I don’t think Gerry’s even going to attempt the States! http://subhumans.ca

TANDOORI KNIGHTS MONGREL ZINE INTERVIEW

BY BOB SCOTT MONGREL ZINE: TANDOORI KNIGHTS PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELVES AND STATE THE MISSION OF YOUR CRUSADE FOR OUR MONGREL ZINE READERS! BLOODSHOT BILL: Our mission is to have fun in our pajamas all over the world.

KING KHAN: This music has been marinating inside of us for a long time... and we can bring it to a grill near you!!!

MZ: BOTH OF YOU HAVE BEEN PLAYING TOGETHER ON AND OFF OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS. WHEN WAS THE FIRST TIME? BB: I remember playin’ a song together about Chuck Berry videotapin’ girls in the toilet. I guess we were about 17 then.

KK: I also remember a Gravity Bong being involved and cutting up 2 litre coke bottles and immersing them in buckets.

MZ: HOW DID YOU COOK UP THE CONCEPT OF TANDOORI KNIGHTS? WHAT FUELED

THE DESIRE TO MARRY FOOD AND MUSIC? BB: The word “concept” sucks... We just spent a lotta time together this summer and it just happened... besides sex & comic books, what else is there BUT food & music?!

KK: I prefer Khancept... Well we were actually driving by a restaurant and saw the name Tandoori Nuits and I said, “Man that name is all wrong it should be Les Nuits Tandoori.” And then it hit like frightnin’ lighnin’ WE MUST BE THE TANDOORI KNIGHTS...

And paint our skin as red as possible.... Put the IN back into Indian rock n roll... whatever that means. Just bend over and let the sun shine in!!!!

MZ: WHO IS THE HINDU GODDESS WITH THE COW’S BODY AND WINGS? BB: That’s our chef, she makes the best Butter Chicken KK: Yes, and the best butter milk!!!!!

MZ: NORTON IS PUTTING

OUT YOUR FIRST RELEASE, THE PRETTY PLEASE 7”. WHEN IS THIS AVAILABLE? IS THIS A FULL LP IN PROGRESS? GIVE ME INGREDIENTS. BB: The 7” should be out by Halloween, “Bucketful” video will be up in a couple weeks when 7” is out. Full LP coming early 2010.

KK: We have been recording across the ocean... via satellite!!! And we have about 12 songs so far!!!! “Pretty Please” will be out Oct 23rd!!!!

MZ: HOW IS YOUR PROJECT IN THE WORKS “BOOKS N RIBS” PROGRESSING? I LIKE THE IDEA OF PARTIALLY EDUCATING SOME-

AND TANDOORI KNIGHTS FITS RIGHT INTO THIS. WHO ARE THE GREAT EATING MUSICIANS OF THE PAST THAT YOU ADMIRE? KK: One of my favorites is “Yum Yum” by Joe Tex. BB: Hasil’s “Poultry in Motion” album is real sweet... But really, depending what you eat, any song can be about food, no? A song like “Peggy Sue” could be a food song for Cannibals!

MZ: “PRETTY PLEASE” IS SO RELAXING! LIKE EXOTIC TRAVELOGUE MUSIC THAT HELPS MY DIGESTION. SUPPOSEDLY EATING A LARGE MEAL EARLY IN THE DAY IS BEST BUT I LIKE TO SLEEP IN LATE,

STARVE ALL DAY, AND THIS MAXIMIZES MY GORGING STAMINA TO EAT A LOT AT NIGHT SO I CAN STORE MY FAT. ONE WHILE THEY DINE WITH RIBS SERVED UP IN PAGES OF WET & GREASY LITERATURE. HAS ANYONE CONTACTED booksnribs@gmail. com?

BB: We must thank Mongrel Zine for all your help in getting the word out about our restaurant... as the saying goes “Books ‘n’ Ribs is our business, and business is GOOD!” KK: As we also say at Books N RIbs... “The only way to cure illiteracy is throw some ribs on it!!!”

MZ: NORTON RECORDS HAS RELEASED/ REISSUED A LOT OF RECORDING ARTISTS FROM THE PAST WITH SONGS ABOUT FOOD

KK: I am all for snackin’ after midnight....

BB: I hear ya... I usually can’t eat breakfast unless I’ve stayed up all night. I’m a night gorger too!

MZ: ANYONE ELSE HELPING OUT IN TANDOORI KNIGHTS? WAS THE HUMAN SACRIFICE IN THE BLOOD RITUAL, A FAILED SOUSCHEF? WHO WAS THE SACRIFICE TO AND HOW DOES THE BLOOD RITUAL HELP WITH YOUR SONG WRITING? BB: We had our friend Al Cadi come by and wail some sax on “Tandoori Party”, KK’s kids sing backup on “Roam The Land” and we’ll have a special back-up band for live shows. Not a failed

souschef, just the only virgin we could find!

KK: That virgin happens to be Dale Macdonald (Chocolat, Cockroaches, Red Mass) and he has lost his virginity since then. Sometimes Tandoori Sacrifice pays off in mysterious ways!!!

MZ: IS SABA LOU THE SACRIFICIAL BLOOD BOWL HOLDER IN YOUR PROMOTIONAL YOUTUBE? SHE’S DOING SOME OF THE VOCALS IN TANDOORI KNIGHTS TOO! SHE MUST HAD A GREAT TIME HELPING DAD OUT ON THE VIDEO SHOOT! WERE YOU ALL IN INDIA FOR SOME OF THAT VIDEO SHOOT? BB: Naw, Saba Lou wanted no part of the rituals, that’s Bella in the video.

KK: Actually Saba Lou was watching the door for my mom... Tandoori Knights is a family secret... or is it really just a Secret Family?!

MZ: WOULD THE SWORD OF A TANDOORI KNIGHT SMITE PRACTITIONERS OF SUBSTANDARD CUISINE? BB: The Sword of Tandoori will help us get good food whenever we want.

KK: And it also makes amputations and beheading fun again.

MZ: WHEN YOU MAY HAVE HAD NO $ FOR FOOD, WHAT HAVE YOU SUSTAINED YOURSELF ON THAT TASTED GREAT AND WAS EVEN HEALTHY? I WAS LED TO A DUMPSTER OF LOVE BEHIND A SU-

PERSTORE AT ONE POINT BUT I WOULDN’T SAY I WAS EVER THE PICTURE OF HEALTH! HAS BAD DIETARY HABITS HELP FORGE THE SALTY OLYMPIC EATING CHAMPS WE HEAR ON THIS FINE 7”?

KK: I knew a guy who ate only eggs for a whole month... he wasn’t very popular.

BB: With or without money, I’m not sure we eat too healthy.

MZ: BLACK LIPS ATE MAGGOTS IN SARDINIA WHAT TYPE OF FREAKY CREATURES HAVE YOU DINED ON? BB :I ate something in Italy once that I’m sure wasn’t even dead yet... and I’m not a big fan of peanuts in food (chocolate peanuts are fine, but not in food).

KK: I recently went to Stockholm with my wife and brought back some Ostrich Sausages, which were great, also smoked some reindeer.

MZ: WHAT IS THE SHITTIEST GARBAGE YOU’VE EVER EATEN? BB: I love eating so much that having a “wasted meal”, like some shitty spaghetti in a truck stop, will make me think that was the shittiest garbage ever.

KK: McRib. MZ: EVER EATEN PINNEAL GLANDS OR ANYTHING TO ABSORB THEIR POWER KINDA LIKE THAT GANG LEADER IN DISTRICT 9?

BB: I like biting girls, does that count?

KK: I often eat my own words...

MZ: ANY CHANCES OF A CABLE ACCESS COOKING SHOW LIKE BRUNO GERUSSI? BB: Sure, why not? Somewhere hot ‘n’ sweaty for sure. I don’t know Bruno Gerussi, but sounds like fun.

BB: Ahhhhhh, THAT guy!

MZ: WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE SOME MUSIC SPECIFICALLY FOR RESTAURANTS OR CATERED EVENTS? WHAT WOULD BE THE IDEAL VENUE TO WITNESS THE TANDOORI KNIGHTS IN ACTION? KK: I think we would be much more useful in titty bars, it’s no fun to play while people are eating... unless it is at the hot and cold buffet at the Amazon. I ate steak at a strip club in Portland with the Black Lips and lemme tell ya, chewing on meat is not what you wanna be doing when someone is dangling it in your face at the same time...

MZ: KING KHAN, HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF AN ADVICE COLUMN KINDA LIKE THE “ASK SEAN SPITS” ONE IN ERNIE QUINTERO’S VACILANDER ZINE? KK: I can only help so many... I prefer to give advice over meals than have to write a column...

If you want some of my advice take me out to dinner...

MZ: KHAN, YOU ALSO MOONLIGHT IN DEMON’S CLAWS, THE ALMIGHTY DEFENDERS, THE 3RD KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW LP, “INVISIBLE GIRL” IS OUT ON IN THE RED...

AND ARE YOU WORKING ON NEW SHRINES

MATERIAL? KK: Yes, new Shrines is slowly coming together...

IN THE RED is also putting out my punk band called THE BLACK JASPERS that should be out

by Dec. It is more of a lo-fi ‘77 punk project I had back in 2002. Sub Pop is also putting out a single of the Fiery Tears of St. Laurent which should also be out in Nov or Dec. And hopefully one day I will get to make the Best Of Moon Studios Vol.1.

MZ: BLOODSHOT BILL, YOU JUST RECORDED AN LP WITH MARK SULTAN. WHERE WAS THAT? I BET IT WAS EASY AND FUN! ARE YOU GONNA TOUR WITH HIM AT ANY POINT AND WHEN IS THAT SLATED TO COME OUT? HOW ABOUT SOME STUFF WITH THE BLOODSHOT BILL AND THE HANDCUFFS, I CAUGHT THEM AT L’ESCO AND LOVED IT! BB: We recorded at Sin Studios in Montreal, and yes, it was a lotta fun! We started with a few songs a couple years ago, and only recently picked it up again. We do it in our spare time, so if there’s ever a chance to tour I’m sure we’d both be up for it... dunno when it’ll come out. Me & Al (sax-man for The Hand-Cuffs) recorded some tunes that’ll be out on an EP on Hog Maw records.

MZ: “BURP!” Thanks! www.myspace. com/ tandooriknights

INTERVIEW BY JANELLE HOLLYROCK

PHOTO BY LILA

DOMINGUEZ

You know about the Jacuzzi Boys, right?

JANELLE: SO HOW DID YOU GUYS ALL MEET? GABRIEL: Diego & I have been friends ever since high school. We started goofin’ around playing covers and stuff in his room & started playing shows around town a short time after. We met Danny through our best bud Rydel who told Danny to come to one of our shows… he dug it and I asked if he wanted to fill it out with some bass and he agreed!

WHAT’S WITH THE NAME? G: Well, it was a rejected name for a previous band. We just picked the name ‘cause it kinda made sense for a band from the tropics! It also just sounds like a sleazy fun time!

They’re three rad guys from Miami, Florida -- that’s Gabriel, Danny, and Diego -- who play psychedelic garage-pop and they play it LOUD. I got their No Seasons LP on Florida’s Dying Records for Christmas this year and it still hasn’t left constant rotation on my turntable! Gabriel and Danny took out some time to chat with me about Iggy Pop, Roy Orbison, and sleazy fun times.

SO WHAT’S MIAMI LIKE? MOST REVIEWS I’VE READ SAY YOU’RE THE ONLY ONES PLAYING GARAGE ROCK THERE. DANNY: Miami’s cool and very weird, it’s really kind of on it’s own trip, but nah we’re not the only ones playin’ rock ‘n roll and stuff… there are a couple of cool bands down here… The Electric Bunnies, Beings, Melted Sunglasses, Scam Buddies, Nerve City, Teepee, and some other cool stuff too!

YOU’VE PUT OUT THREE RELEASES ON FLORIDA’S DYING. HOW’D YOU HOOK UP WITH RICH EVANS? THE MIAMI HERALD MADE OUT LIKE HE

Hopefully next time they’ll dish on all those drinking, voodoo, and cocaine stories they’re keeping to themselves...

DISCOVERED YOU GUYS.

D: We actually just shot an interview on the street but he might use some live footage shot by the festival.

G: We played The Electric Bunnies’ record release show for their first 7” that Rich put on & he asked us to do a record with him. We’ve been best buds ever since and continue to put out records together.

YOU’RE ON THE NEW OUR BOY ROY COMP (TELEVISION EXPLOSION)! HOW’D YOU GET SIGNED UP FOR THAT? I HAVEN’T HEARD IT YET BUT CAN’T WAIT TO – “YOU GOT IT” IS MY FAVE ORBISON TRACK.

AND I READ THAT YETI MAG’S MIKE MCGONIGAL IS PUTTING YOU ON A YETI COMP AND IN HIS DOCUMENTARY, IN LOVE WITH THESE TIMES. WHAT’S THAT ABOUT? D: Yea, we were stoked to be on that comp, it was killer! As far as the doc goes, he just asked us if we wanted to be a part of it and we shot some stuff with him while we were in Portland for the Scion fest, but we haven’t seen any of it or anything…

Looking forward to it though!

WAS IT JUST LIVE FOOTAGE? OR OTHER STUFF TOO?

D: Haha… really, that’s awesome! We got really crazy with it, it’s kinda funny actually. But anyway, they just wrote to us and asked if we’d be interested in doin’ it and we were like, “Hell yea!”

SO OPENING FOR KKBBQ LED TO TOURING WITH KING KHAN & THE SHRINES, WHICH LET TO THE SPLIT TOUR SINGLE (2008). “THIS TOUR HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT DRINKING, VOODOO, AND COCAINE,” ONE OF YOU TOLD AN UNDERCOVER SF WEEKLY REVIEWER. ELABORATE!

G: Haha, aw man… I really don’t Ghost Ghost 7” - Florida’s Dyremember saying that at all so ing 2007 if I did I was probably just Tour split 7” with King Khan - Florida’s joking… The tour was a lotta Dying 2008 fun & I’ll leave it at that!

Island Ave 7” - Hozac 2008 I Fought a Crocodile 7” - Rob’s House 2008 FAIR ENOUGH! I READ Split 7” with Woven Bones - Needless 2009 THAT ALSO IN SAN No Seasons LP - Florida’s Dying 2009 FRANCISCO YOU GUYS Our Boy Roy LP Comp - Telephone Explosion GOT ONSTAGE FOR THE 2010 (“You Got It”) SHRINES’ ENCORE AND Coming : Bricks or Coconuts 7” on Mexican Summer

PLAYED SUICIDE’S “GHOST RIDER” AND BOWIE’S “REBEL, REBEL” WITH JELLO BIAFRA! I WISH I’D SEEN THAT! DID HE JUST SHOW UP AND JUMP ONSTAGE OR WHAT? D: Yea he was just hanging back stage, but I think KK knows him from before so it wasn’t totally random. I’m not sure about being on stage for “Ghost Rider” but I definitely remember playing percussion for “Rebel Rebel” with Jello Biafra on stage, as a matter of fact I think Oscar from the Gris Gris was also on-stage. That showed ruled!

DID THAT TOUR GET YOU NOTICED BY HOZAC? D: Nah, we already had that recorded by that time, actually, we picked the records up from Todd in Chicago on our way home.

OH! AND NOW YOU’RE DOING SOME SHOWS RIGHT NOW WITH FRESH & ONLYS. HOW’S THAT GOING? D: We actually just wrapped them up as I type this… It was super cool though! We only played Miami and Tampa with them but it was a blast.

We all really dig that band, plus they’re all really cool dudes! We’re playing with them in SF on our up-coming tour so we’re all really looking forward to that!

SO YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD THIS ALREADY: IGGY POP DID AN INTERVIEW WITH UO (LAME CLOTHING STORE URBAN OUTFITTERS’ MAG) AND WHEN ASKED WHAT MUSIC HE’S “STOKED ON THESE DAYS” HE SAID, “THERE’S A BAND HERE IN MIAMI CALLED THE JACUZZI BOYS. IT’S A STUPID NAME BUT THEY’VE GOT A GOOD SPIRIT. SHOUT OUT TO THE JACUZZI BOYS!” WHAT DIDYA THINK OF THAT? D: Yea, he actually mentioned us and No Age which is pretty cool, but shit, I think it rules! I don’t give a damn if he thinks the name sucks… A lot of people do! haha GABRIEL, YOU DID THE WATERCOLOUR FOR THE ISLAND AVE 7” (VERY COOL!) AND LUC PARADIS DID THE NO SEASONS COVER ART. WHAT’S HIS STORY? G: Yeah it was a lotta fun doing that watercolor… I really love that side of putting out records so whenever I get the chance to I try to hop on it! Luc Paradis is an artist that lives in Montreal but was living in Atlanta when we were recording the album.

We were hanging out and saw some his drawings at a friend’s store and really dug em’. We asked if he wanted to do the art and was totally into it!

WHAT OTHER ARTISTS DO YOU DIG? G: I really like Bjorn Copeland’s collages a lot!

COOL, THANKS! www.jacuzziboys.com

DARLINS

IT WAS GREAT CATCHING YOU WITH KKBBQ. I MISSED YOU PLAY THE GARAGE FEST A MONTH EARLIER SO YOUR SHOW AT THE RED ROOM WAS THE FIRST I’D HEARD YOU… AND

PHOTOS CO URTESY TH OSE

Decked out in their best thrift store picks, Those Darlins blew through Vancouver last November with recent felons the King Khan & BBQ Show. Crass, crazy, and sexy as hell, Those Darlins whipped everyone into a frenzy with their garage tunes about lettin’ loose and gettin’ wild. I heard they played a real country set the month before at the Garage Fest in Portland and, being from Tennessee, there’s a definite nod to the Carter Family in their songs, but Jessi Darlin, Kelley Darlin, and Nikki Darlin definitely kept up with KKBBQ when it came to putting on raw garage rock show. After their set, Nikki jumped into the crowd, grabbed some guy’s beer, took a swig of it and spit it back out on him. I mean, check out their blog for pics of road trips, shows, and whiskey (and whiskey and more whiskey...) These chicks are FUN. And would you expect anything less from a band with an arsenal of furry Davy Crockett hats and bloody tampon jokes? (“What did one tampon say to the other? Nothing, they were stuck up cunts!”)

After the show I fangirled all over them and asked for an interview, which we did via email just as they were coming off tour with Australian pop trio The Grates....

IT BLEW ME AWAY! YOUR SET WAS SO MUCH FUN, YOU WERE ALL SEXY AS HELL, AND YOU EVEN COVERED “LONESOME COWBOY BILL”!

HOW WAS YOUR FIRST EVER DAY IN CANADA? It was good. Vancouver is beautiful. We ate really good sushi and had fun dancing with people during King Khan and BBQ’s set.

YOU WENT TO EDMONTON AFTERWARDS...

HOW WAS THAT? It was like this:

HA! SO HOW DID YOU HOOK UP WITH KKBBQ? TOURING MUSTA BEEN GOOD EXPOSURE.

We’ve been fans of KKBBQ for a while and wanted to tour with them, so we asked them if they wanted to tour with us!

HOW ABOUT THE GRATES WHO YOU’RE ALSO TOURING WITH? The Grates introduced themselves to us at SXSW and we looked them up and dug what they were doing. So we played shows together and it was a good time.

FIND? Thank you! I feel bad I haven’t gotten it updated in so long... we’ve just been on the road so long that I haven’t had a chance. But I really do have some great pics from the last couple months.

Anyway, that headdress was a great find. One of my other favorite things is this vintage feather headdress from a kids summer camp with different colored turkey feathers. Really kitschy and awesome. I got it in Cleveland in the vintage store underneath the Beachland Ballroom. Anyway, I’ve got a lot of good costume stuff. My room looks like a theatre closet.

ANY GOOD TOUR STORIES? In Winnipeg on the KKBBQ tour, we played the LYROCK Royal Albert Arms where a guy commit- PHOTOS BY JANELLE HOL ted this gruesome murder. There’s a hotel attached to the venue and in one of the rooms he killed a man, chopped up the body, and put it in the bathtub. The body was completely disemboweled and they never found the organs. Instead, there was a set of jewelry in his abdomen that had been part of the set of a Susan Sarandon film being filmed in Winnipeg at the time. It sounds too crazy to be true, but there’s a news article about it at hollywood. com/news.

The greenroom was in the hotel part of the venue and it was really creepy, just long narrow hallways with small rooms with a twin size mattress and a sink.

Almost everyone went up to the 3rd floor and went into the room where the murder happened, except for me. I stayed downstairs and scared the shit out of Nikki by jumping out from one of the rooms.

JESSI, YOUR STINKY TAILS BLOG IS ALL MY FAVOURITE THINGS – SHOWS AND FOOD AND THRIFT STORES! THE EGYPTIAN HEADDRESS YOU SCORED IN EUGENE (AND WORE ONSTAGE IN VANCOUVER) IS AWESOME. WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BEST

TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU FORMED THE BAND. We met in Murfreesboro through friends in the music scene. We started hanging out and playing music. We called each other Darlin and it seemed like a somewhat fitting name.

Except we added Those cause it sounds kind of like specific Darlins, like a gang.

HOW’D YOU MEET SHERIFF LIN? WHAT’S HIS STORY? Lin is one of our friends from Murfreesboro, we go way back. He’s also been involved in the Rock And Roll camp since the second year. His story is that he is a bad ass musician and a great dude. He used to play in the

coolest bands around town, Turncoats, The Bang Up, Punk Rock Party Band, Young Livers (usually as the guitarist and/or lead singer) and then one day we realized he was also a bad ass drummer so we scooped him up!

exciting to finally finish it and get it out there. I’ve always wanted to make a cartoon.

ANY MORE VIDEOS COMING? I don’t have any in the works right now because it is so time consuming and is really hard to do on the road, but next time we have some down time I’d like to work on another. Maybe for someone else’s band.

HAVE YOU HAD OTHER DRUMMERS? We had a few drummers before Lin. Our good friend Angela in Memphis was awesome! Most of them just had too much testosterone though.

ALMOST EVERY INTERVIEW I’VE READ MENTIONS YOUR DIY ETHIC ‘CAUSE YOU RELEASED THE ALBUM OUT ON YOUR OWN LABEL. WHY’D YOU START OH WOW DANG? We felt like we had the resources to do it that way and could control how the release unfolded and was marketed. And keep the masters of our recordings.

We formed the label Oh Wow Dang with our manager, John Turner. It has been a dream of his to run a label that could support artists and he worked really hard making sure the release was well publicized.

KELLEY, IS YOUR SOUTHERN GIRLS R’N’R CAMP STILL GOING? Yes, this year is the 8th year the camp has been going on! The link is www.sgrrc.org. The camp is part of a larger nonprofit called YEAH, which is an org. that offers arts programs for young people and runs an all-ages venue and arts center.

I FUCKIN’ LOVE THE RED LIGHT LOVE VIDEO! ARE THEY ALL YOUR DRAWINGS, JESSI? They are all our drawings except there are a few during the “audience” scenes that Nikki and Lin drew.

SPEAKING OF INTERVIEWS… WAS THE ONE YOU DID WITH CHARLOTTESVILLE’S THE HOOK THE WORST EVER? “DO YOU HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR?” “DO YOU HAVE ANY BODY IMAGE ISSUES?” WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? DID SHE EVEN ASK ABOUT YOUR MUSIC? IT FELT LIKE I WAS READING A CELEBRITY TABLOID INTERVIEW. Hahahahahahahahahhahaaaaaaaa yeah it was bad.

HOW’D YOU PUT THAT TOGETHER? I spent a good 6 months drawing and working on this, and my friend Teddy Gage in New York (who lives at 222) helped me animate it. It was so

STILL FROM RED LIGHT LOVE

NIKKI, I THINK IT TOTALLY SURPRISED EVERYONE – IN A GOOD WAY – WHEN YOU JUMPED OFF STAGE AT THE END OF YOUR SET AND CHUGGED THAT GUY’S BEER. HAS IT EVER GOTTEN OUTTA HAND WHEN YOU GET INTO THE CROWD LIKE THAT? Yes, but not as much as I would like it to.

NOW THAT YOU’RE FINISHED TOURING WITH THE GRATES, WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW? WORKING ON A NEW RECORD? Yes, we’re recording and releasing a split 7” with the band Funstix.

OK, THAT’S IT. THANKS SO MUCH! http://thosedarlins.com

RICH HOPE, RAMBLIN’ AMBASSADORS & JAMES T. KIRKS, April 10th at Fairview Pub, Vancouver BC Drawings by Drea Baeza

THE JAMES T. KIRKS Surf punk from the northern prairies of Edmonton! What could make more sense? An interview with greasy mechanic, dive bar aficionado, and James T. Kirks guitarist Ted Wright by Janelle Hollyrock JANELLE: I GREW UP IN CALGARY AND THE BANDS I REMEMBER MOST ARE HUEVOS RANCHEROS, THE MANTS, VON ZIPPERS, AND... LES TABERNACLES! UNFORTUNATELY I NEVER GOT TO SEE LES TABS. WHO ALL WAS IN THAT BAND? GIMME SOME HISTORY..

TED: The band started from the smoking ruins of Edmonton’s best rocknroll band that nobody remembers, Radio City Riot Squad, and The James T Kirks. Both bands (7 dudes in all, plus gear-trailers are for pussies and emo bands) piled into a 1971 Chevy camper van, customized by yours truly, and headed across the country to Montreal and back. When we returned to the punk house we lived in, The Royal Palace, we found in the unopened mail an eviction notice. Since half of both bands members were from BC, they mostly moved back there. So, what do you do when you have 2 guitar players, a bassist, another bassist, and no drummer? Start another band, of course!

That first Tabs incarnation was Darren Chewka (drums), Liam Copeland (guitar), Alan Hildebrandt (bass), Rob Wright (vocals), and me, Ted Wright (guitar). Other members included John Murphy, Jason Pratt, Steve Loree, and Pat Bourne, all on rhythm guitar (don’t ask why, I have no fucking clue).

OKAY, THE LES TABS BAND MAP IN

VUE WEEKLY A WHILE BACK WAS PRETTY COOL BUT IMPOSSIBLE TO ACTUALLY READ. WHAT BANDS HAVE YOU ALL BEEN IN? Rob currently plays bass in The Vicious Cycles [Vicious Cycles interview in MZ#4 -- Janelle], played in Sellout 77, The Crank Journals, The Ex-Teens, and something else. Silas plays drums currently with Manraygun, and also played in Black Market Inc., and also The Fat Dave Crime Wave, I think, but they’re pretty much the same band. I’ve played bass in The Brewtals, a surf n’ garage band, guitar in Ball and Chain Rhythm and Blues Revue (basically a cover band with 2 guitars and no bass, Hound-Dog Taylor-style), and played bass for The Old Wives. I currently play guitar and sing for The Get Down. That’s pretty much it.

SO WHEN DID THE JAMES T KIRKS FORM? The Kirks were formed in the bedroom of a wood-heated, solar passive house built into a hill, about 6 miles north of Stony Plain, which is a halfhour out of Edmonton. The seed for the band, as a mostly instrumental band, came from a long-ago show called Nightlines with David Wisdom, on the ol’ CBC. He would have a guest Deejay once in a while. Rob and I would literally stay up nights making lists of bands

to seek out. One fateful weekend, David’s guest was none other than Rich Hagensen, guitar player for the BC band The Surfdusters. He played the most incredible hour of surf and instrumental music I had ever heard, comprised completely of old 7” records. He gave his address at the end of the show, encouraging fans to send correspondence. I did, and about 2 months later, in the community mail box was a brown paper package addressed to me, with 2 90-minute tapes, recorded end-to-end with instro music, including Link Wray, who I had never heard of at age 15. Rich sent a letter with it, apologizing for the delay, and that shit pretty much changed my life. That, and the theme from Kids in The Hall. Silas happened to have a set of drums, Rob had a shitty El Degas bass someone gave him, and I went out and bought a Marshall JCM 900, being the only amp that I could find with reverb, apparently, and we started writing songs and playing shows as soon as we could. We were pretty much an all-ages band, for a long time. Our first show actually got cancelled, because Silas was grounded. No shit!

SO HOW DOES IT WORK WITH ROB BEING IN VANCOUVER? WHO WRITES YOUR SONGS? HOW DO YOU PRACTICE AND SET UP SHOWS?

THAT’S REALLY COOL. I USED TO RECORD SHOWS OFF CJSW ONTO TAPES AND PLAY THEM OVER AND OVER CAUSE I DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO FIND MUSIC LIKE WHAT WAS ON COLLEGE RADIO! TELL ME ABOUT THE NAME.

“The Busted Cherry” actually hasn’t ever made a crossCanada trip, although it’s probably driven twice the circumference of the earth since we’ve had it. The odometer stopped at 299876 kms 6 years ago, and we’ve driven it at least another 50000 kms. I’m a licensed mechanic, so pretty much anything gets fixed before it’s broke. We’re driving the Dinkmobile this time, or as Pat calls it, The Delorean, my 85 VW Jetta. I’m replacing the timing belt, radiator, stereo, and lowering the front end this week before we leave. Please urge your readers to say a silent prayer for us.

The name came from a mashup of some Edmonton band that used Captain Kirk on a poster, calling the band The Captain James T Nemo experience, a play on the band Captain Nemo. We thought The James T Kirks would be a hilarious name for the band. The joke’s on us, I guess. I’m waiting for a cease and desist letter when the record comes out.

HOW IS IT BEING IN A BAND WITH YOUR BROTHERS? LIKE OASIS BUT WITH MORE WHISKEY AND LESS COKE? Less Coke or less coke? Seriously, it’s like any band with 3 guys that are all brothers.

Sure, lots of fights, and then they’re forgotten 15 minutes later. Like any dysfunctional, unhealthy 15-year long relationship.

SILAS, ROB & TED

We don’t really practice much, except when Rob’s in town on business, or we get to Van early. But we make the best of the situation. We take the time to come up with riffs, or someone will bring something that’s been floating around, and we just expand on it, like any other group. Same goes for shows-we’re all playing, and stay in pretty good shape, at least playing-wise, so it comes naturally. Plus it helps when you haven’t changed your set in a couple years.

I LOVE THAT DRIVE BETWEEN CALGARY AND VANCOUVER SO I CAN TOTALLY UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU SAID TO VUE THAT “IT’S ONLY LIKE A 13-HOUR DRIVE, THAT’S NOTHING.” YOU’VE ALSO DONE A CROSS CANADA TOUR IN YOUR VAN? HOW’S IT HOLDING UP?

I’LL BET YOU GUYS HAVE SEEN A FEW CANADIAN DIVE BARS. ANY THAT STAND OUT? The Townhouse in Sudbury, where I caught crabs from the filthy band rooms in the basement. Also, some bar in Kingston, I think it has a picture of Shania Twain holding a rabbit over the front of it. I know, that’s something you can see anywhere, right? Got so fucking drunk, I had to puke on the way back to some dude’s house.

I lean out the door, throw up, fall out the door on my face onto a crushed-gravel shoulder, and my feet are still in the van. I

had some good road rash the next day.

I HEARD THAT BAND PRACTICE IS IN A CANADIAN TIRE WAREHOUSE? YOU DON’T GET MUCH GREASIER THAN THAT! DO YOU BREAK IN AFTER HOURS? It’s actually a tire storage warehouse for the shop I work at. I asked, and they let us jam and store as many broken amps/guitars/straight 6 Chevy motors as we want. Free. It doesn’t get more bitchin’, really.

HOW WAS YOUR RELEASE PARTY LAST NOV WITH THE JOLTS AND VICIOUS CYCLES? THAT SOUNDS LIKE A WILD LINE-UP, I’M NOT SURE WHY I MISSED IT!!

Probably because you hate good music. I’m not really sure, either. It was nutso-gremlins hanging from the ceiling, chicks taking their tops off, more free whiskey than you could shake a stick at. The Jolts are a fucking great band, as well as The Cycles. They both had the crowd in the palm of their hand!

I DO HATE GOOD MUSIC! WHY’D IT TAKE YOU SO LONG TO RELEASE THE DRIVE SAFELY 7”? IS THERE A FULL-LENGTH IN THE WORKS? Between Rob moving to Van, and our general laziness, we just never got around to doing shit. It was at Liam Copeland’s suggestion, of Eat Shit and Die Records, that we do a record to tide over the faithful until the full-length gets released. I traded a tune-up for studio time, we laid down the tracks long distance, and the rest is orange vinyl history. There is a completely finished full length that has been completely finished for about 4 years. See above for the same reasons that it isn’t out yet. We’re actually just waiting for 2012, when we can rack up our Visa bills without fear of reprisal.

AND WHAT’S THIS LIVE THEATRE SCORE YOU MENTION ON YOUR MYSPACE? The score was to the Fringe Theatre hit, The Tunnels of Little Chicago. We were approached by local fanboy/producer/media slut Trevor Anderson, to write a song for a scene in the play. Then it grew into more than one song. Then we wound up scoring the whole thing. Then it turned into “Let’s play the entire score live for all the performances!”

Heavy business, but it was worth it. We did a subsequent rewrite of the score, and did some other fun stuff with it. A few pieces wound up being songs on the full-length.

SO, REALLY, WHAT’S IT LIKE IN EDMONTON? IS THERE A GOOD LOCAL MUSIC SCENE? WHO SHOULD I CHECK OUT THERE? Good local bands are few, in my opinion, but there are some.

I’ve always felt more of a kinship to East Coast bands like Tricky Woo, Bionic, Shikasta, Starvin’ Hungry, Shadowy Men; and the Calgary scene in the golden years of the Night Gallery, with The Zippers, Forbidden Dimension, Mants, Huevos, The Puritans, and all the amazing shows that happened there like The Lazy Cowgirls, The Bellrays, The Delta 72 (actually at Mac Hall), The Rock n’Roll Boat and Trailer Show when Gas Huffer and The Mono Men played the same weekend. Plus Jeff Connoly of The Lyres with The Zippers backing him up playing Hammond? Fucking freakout! Edmonton is a LOT of punk and metal, pretty much. For the record, I never liked SNFU. It’s difficult being the best and longest running instro band here, but there is the Burnin’ Sands (uber-clean surf rock), there was The Southside Riots, who were a lot like Man or Astro-Man, there is The Old Wives, an excellent pop-punk band, and Graham from the Wednesday Nite Heroes has a great new group called No Problem, kinda Zeke stuff. Also, Krang, stoner space-rock, and the lovely and heartbreakingly talented The Secretaries.

SO WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ORIGINAL STAR TREK EPISODE? I’M OF THE OPINION THAT THE MORE KIRK THE BETTER SO I’M QUITE PARTIAL TO EPISODES WHERE SHATNER’S BEEN CLONED LIKE “WHAT ARE LITTLE GIRLS MADE OF” (ANDROID PARTS, APPARENTLY) AND, OF COURSE, “THE ENEMY WITHIN” WHERE YOU WON’T SEE ANY BETTER ACTING ANYWHERE THAN SHATNER SCREAMING, “I’M CAPTAIN KIRK!” Probably “The Trouble With Tribbles” -- who can resist such a seemingly unmalevolent ball of fluff?

I HATE THAT EPISODE! THAT WOULD MAKE AN AWESOME SHOW POSTER IF YOU GUYS PLAYED THE SHATNER BUILDING AT MCGILL. I’d prefer to play The Shitner building - I hear it’s made of duct tape and toilet paper.

SO MOTORCYCHO NORMAN SEZ, “I’M ALWAYS AMAZED AT HOW TED CAN PLAY THE GUITAR SO GREAT WITH THOSE BIG SAUSAGE FINGERS HE HAS!!!!” AND FROM BILLY BONES: “TED IS AN AMAZING GUITAR PLAYER. HE HAS LARGE SAUSAGE FINGERS. I CAN’T BELIEVE HE CAN HIT INDIVIDUAL NOTES. HE IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE GUITAR PLAYERS IN THE WORLD.” What can I say? My fingers really are fairly sausage-like.

I’ve been tempted to eat them while drunk, on occasion.

BILLY ALSO SEZ: “ASK THEM ABOUT THE ROCKIN MEXICANS!” Regrettably, their visas expired long ago. Try searching out their bootleg tapes, “Live From The Rathole”. Thanks!

BILLY BONES, TED, SKINNY TIM

KIRKS TO THE RESCUE!

Raised by Wolves and The James T Kirks got to do a quick Van island tour a couple years ago. I think this tour made us bros with Rob to the point where he was the obvious person to contact to be in the Vicious Cycles!

We had just played a blazing Victoria show, moved up to Tofino to party with the hippies. I think there were two kids watching the Wolves. Kirks headlining set of blazing surf music brought the crowd begging for more.

After our surf town getaway it was time to move to Whistler to open up for DOA. Kirks were running a bit late and missed the Ferry! The Wolves van broke down and we were at the front of the line at the ferry terminal. The brakes were shot!!! I think on this trip the Wolves had some kids, a nanny, and a dog as well as a the full band!!!! Ted of the James T Kirks and Monkey from the Wolves are both handy, I think Ted is a Mechanic. This all came in handy as they ripped the brakes off the van working about as fast as possible. With our full fowl looking crew ravaging through this break job at the terminal the Ferry rounded the corner, and it stuck its ugly head right at us. Time was winding down. The pressure was on. It was exciting we you could hear the excitement in the air. But we had the Wright Bros, who have been right all their lives!!! I think Ted finished tightening the last lug of the tire just in time for us to all jump in the van and drive away, within 1 minute!!! It was a close call but when you got the Kirks on your side anything is possible.

www.myspace.com/thejamestkirks

by Skinny Tim

MZ: Spider, thanks for taking the time to address my queries. Please introduce and give readers some background on yourselves.

SPIDER INTERVIEW BY BOB SCOTT

JESSIE: We are for the most part a duo. One guy and one gal. Erin and Jessie.

MZ: Are there ever others playing in Spider that I am not aware of?

MZ: Who came up with the name Spider?

JESSIE: As far as “others” there have been a few people who have done their part here and there... such as Lance and Wayne, both who you would know from the Spits. My dream of course is still to play our first show in France!

JESSIE: Erin is convinced he came up with the name officially speaking. I sort of remember having something to do with it but he doesn’t.

MZ: I only just found out that a 45 rpm adapter for vinyl 7”s is also called a Spider, the name coined

by RCA! JESSIE: I had no idea of this!

What I’m always amazed by is how many damn bands there are with the name Spider.

of laziness and the fact that Erin has to put most of his time into the Spits. And I guess low key just sort of suits us anyhow... it lets it be what it will.

unfortunately. And it’s been so long, it feels like we perhaps should stay hidden forever!

MZ: Based in L.A., have Spider ever played live? A recorded Spider song seems like it has so many layers of sound playing at once! Are you able to replicate that live?

MZ: Do you keep Spider low-key primarily because it is so special to you? I love the homespun, DIY 7” sleeve silkscreen production photo and your handmade Spider militia armbands you have on your myspace. I also like how your orange and black on white Spider logo is offset like old Halloween advertising.

JESSIE: We’ve never played live

JESSIE: To be honest it’s a mix

MZ: Janelle and I do Mongrel Zine primarily to have something of interest to share with each other and it’s become a lot of exhaustive work when you add up the other stuff we do, but it is a “play while we work” kind of situation. It is so much fun to have accomplished something cool that we can hold in our hands like a freshly delivered mutant baby! It must be as much of a fulfilling thing to release a 7”?

It’s a labor of love, cheesy as that sounds! Is this why you started Spider? Whose idea was it and when did you know you were able to work so well together? Whatever bickering we do making the zine

usually amounts to being somewhat productive… so toil is good then?!

JESSIE: It’s pretty much the same over here. There is bickering and struggle but it doesn’t matter. Erin opened up the gate to give me my first chance to learn how to sing which is something I wanted for so long. I don’t really care if I’m good at it or not but boy is it fun to try.

Erin writes most of the music, I try to fill in the rest and do artwork or lyrics or other things. It began with me and one of my best friends Brooke deciding to really want to play music. I think it’s something I’ve always wanted and I just never followed through. We would to rent a jam space out and just sort of fuck around.

There were a couple other bands I was in years and years ago that did shows and I made a tape once with my friend Dave Scott Stone, all the bands actually were with him. BLAH BLAH BLAH....

But when my girlfriend and I needed people to play with, along came Erin and Lance. I decided the best way for me to learn was to copy other stuff. So the first song I learned was the Petticoats’ “I Hate Being in Love”. Then it just sort of mutated into just me and Erin. We slowly did more and more songs, it took a long time.

When I got to hold the artwork and the 7” for the first time I had never thought I could do it! Yes, it was corny to say but it blew my mind and made me incredibly crazy happy, more than anything else ever had. Lovely mutant baby of our own. For Erin, it was old hat and for me it was just really cool and satisfying. It didn’t matter if people were going to like it or not because I was so excited about producing something. And as far as making all the extra stuff, it’s so fun getting extra stuff, I kinda found out it’s just as equally fun to make it.

MZ: Erin, it seems like doing Spider from home makes it a fertile place to brainstorm and experiment. Have any ideas or sounds you’ve conceived with Spider work their way into The Spits’ new recordings that otherwise wouldn’t have happened?

ERIN: It’s actually the other way around. Most of the Spider songs were Spits songs to begin with.

Spider happened when I thought the Spits were going to break up.

I had these songs and I really wanted to just put them out. Now everyone says that sounds so Spider when I write a song, and I think, don’t you mean The Spits?

MZ: While on the topic, the new

Spits album is so great! Were you excited and put out The Spits LP #4, “School’s Out” before its scheduled July 4th 2009 release date? I can imagine Sean trying to restrain you from doing this like Lord Humungous calming Wez in a chokehold in The Road Warrior!

How is/was The Mutant tour?

ERIN: We were totally excited, busted our ass but the release date just sort of happened as we are pretty new to this stuff and not a “real” record label. We bought an RV and took to the road. Overall the tour was pretty damn great. It was nice to see a lot of the places and people we haven’t seen in a while.

MZ: You describe the Survival Research Laboratories (SRL was formed in 1978 by Mark Pauline http://srl.org/) youtube video you posted in a blog as “Total Happiness”. Have you ever attended an event of theirs and can you describe what it is that draws you to such an event? I rented “A Scenic Harvest From the Kingdom of Pain” in the early ‘90s after reading about them in the 1983 RE/ Search Publication “The Industrial Culture Handbook”. That night I watched it about 4 times in a row on acid shocked and amazed! The sensory overload of hissing primal cybernetic insect violence, the shredded dog carcasses, chaos

and destruction… it seemed like everything I needed to know at the time! I heard that spectators had to sign waivers that SRL would not be held responsible for injuries, which was a very real possibility!

What does SRL mean to Spider?

JESSIE: It’s funny, and maybe this is because you are a writer? But you put it out there for us better than I think I can manage to say?

It’s something that grew on us as well in the early nineties and for mostly the same reasons. It made us in awe of a community who could take art and chaos and life and make it their own. I would have been so happy to be a part of one of their shows but unfortunately I missed all their amazing happenings...

MZ: Researching SRL for this interview I read about when SRL closed up shop in San Francisco, the last thing founder Mark Pauline took down from the wall was a J.G. Ballard poster, and the great author died the following day! I could see books like Crash and High Rise by Ballard possibly being of interest to Spider. What other literature do you really get into?

JESSIE: Well, those are two great books. We like all of the classics as everyone does. Beatniks and exis-

tentialists and all books with good stories. We both like so many different books but what would be the most influential to Spider? Well, perhaps some Harry Crews meets Thomas Pynchon’s V? But how do you not sound like a stereotype or asshole these days naming off all the different novels you love? But for a fact reference Erin and I first bonded when we were in our early 20’s on Hermann Hesse’s Demian and Steppenwolf.

MZ: Jessie, your vocals are so awesome! Spider LILI reminds me of how potent the voice of a woman in a punk band can sound, like Crass’ Joy de Vivre and Eve Libertine. Is it safe to say Crass has had an influence on you? Who else?

JESSIE: Thank you! But it might be all the effects you’re hearing as well! HA HA!!!

Spider LILI is of course our ode to Lili Z. But yes! I love Crass!

And I love all of the post punk women voices like Stef Petticoat especially. There is another woman in a band called OSTRO 340 or is it 430? [It’s Ostro 430] And she is on a punk comp and has the best voice ever! I can’t seem to find their music on anything but this one comp Erin has. All those women were amazing, like Kleenex, Edith Nylon, and Delta 5

and the whole lot of them. I think it’s so cool that those things are more available to kids now. It took me a while to find it all growing up. The girl singer in AFRIKA CORPS is something else too. She is cool, just plain cool.

MZ: Human Eye are also into twisted psychedelic space punk, is there any other current stuff you’ve been listening to that you should inform us space cases about?

JESSIE: We love Human Eye! Anything Tim does of course is top shelf but besides that, well, I can’t think of much else that people probably aren’t already enjoying! We’ve been listening to lots of oldies lately and not much new.

I’ve really been wanting to listen to early Queen for some reason?

I’m not sure what that’s all about.

And Erin has been really digging on Led Zeppelin? Of course we listen to lots of everything. I did purchase the first “UFO1” LP for Erin for XMAS and that really was a grand spacey one we like.

And I wouldn’t mind being able to find a copy of MICROMINIATURE LOVE on vinyl. But that doesn’t seem to be happening.

MZ: Black Orphan is similar to Spider in its science fiction leanings… but you are more into

Science-fact, being such a fan of gritty realism SRL provides?

we did with a few more songs.

MZ: So the Thriftstore and Hozac 7”s are all sold out. Is there a Hozac 7” as well as LP? A little confused about your discography. I’m dying to hear Spider on a proper speaker system, the Macbook we have has such dinky speakers to play your myspace selections.

What else exists? What’s coming up? Please say a double album!

ERIN: TOTAL! MZ: Videogame sounds, both arcade and early home system, seem to figure strongly in your music. Remember Gyruss

by Atari?! It was so trippy and hard! Are you sentimental or nostalgic about the sound effects and themes of classic games?

JESSIE: Gyruss is one of Erin’s favorites! We have all of the Playstation classics from NAMCO. All timeless and totally amazing. The sounds are great. Star Wars, the stand up arcade version seems to be Erin’s long lost favorite sound machine. Not including the sounds, I just happen to be really good at Galaga.

MZ: I fucking love Spider’s Booze Town! Is it the sequel to The Spits “Take Back The Alley”? Both songs use the same drum machine tempo so it’s giving me Total Recall.

ERIN: Yep, pretty much. It’s the Omnichord:”Rock II Beat”.

Total Recall is a really great movie by the way. Like the part when they’re outside and everyone’s melting and their eyes are coming out of their head and they’re all sweaty and plastic faced...

MZ: When HoZac sold out the first 500 copies of your single and asked to press more, why’d you say no?

ERIN: Coz we had planned to release it ourselves which

TOP: SPIDER HOZAC 7”. BOTTOM: SRL AD.

ERIN: Next up is a Spider/Blank Dogs Hozac 7” that we call Teeth but the name is up in the air and might even have changed by the time you read this.

Then hopefully some re-press action and yes, another record!

Double LP? Not sure but there will be more… it was my birthday wish so why shouldn’t I get it? A gatefold would be pretty kick ass actually.

DISCOGRAPHY: SPITS CASSETTE TAPE (Had some early Spider mixed in for filler, everyone kind of hated it) SPIDER HOZAC 7” SPIDER 12” EP (Press of 300) SPIDER 12” EP (Press of 100 ORANGE) SPIDER 12” EP (2nd Press of 300) PUGET POWER 7” EP NO WEBSITE

Hanging out in an East Van basement… sweet. The boys of Student Teacher (Daniel, Evan, Liam & Bryan) and I find ourselves chatting about very important and random things. After a chuckle over their shameful tea pouring skills, we move on to more pressing issues. They wanted this to be a group effort for the answers so there’s no names here…

MANDI: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE IT TO BE? STUDENT TEACHER: I don’t think we really have a sound yet. It’s just starting to come out of its shell. It’s the process of evolution and we kind of just started. We do covers and usually choose a variety of bands from different genres. In doing that we can see which kinds of characteristics of their music are similar and I guess that’s becoming our sound, if that makes sense. We all just listen to so much different shit and have equal appreciation for the different stuff we listen to. There’s no way of deciding what kind of sound we should have. Anyone can be good at playing but it’s idea over technique. You get an idea, try that and sometimes fail. Because we haven’t decided on what kind of sound we want or expect, it’s liberating. We’re not being held down by ideas like, “that’s not garage enough.” No one cares to pin it down to one thing. Everybody doesn’t make sense sometimes. You edit it out.

Can you make us sound cool in this? We should do an audio interview where we have Bach playing in the background or something.

YOU ALL SEEM TO SHARE THE SAME SENSE OF HUMOUR AND GET ALONG REALLY WELL. HOW DID THE FOUR OF YOU MEET? The second day I moved to Canada (from Columbia – Daniel Rincon), I met Liam and Evan skateboarding. It just happened that I was going to go to the same school that they did, so we just fell in love. Fell into a trinity.

I met Brian after high school through Sangito Bigelow who is also close with us. He is the guy who started the band with us and played our first show. He has a world music band that keeps him pretty busy.

WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO THE IDEA OF PLAYING TOGETHER AS A BAND IN SUMMER 2009?

It wasn’t a conscious decision. Our friend Harrison was enticing us to start a band and he just signed us up to play a show with him. He said, “you better get a band together because you’re playing this show”.

IS THIS ROOM WHERE YOU CURRENTLY JAM? (In reference to the tiny bedroom we were all snuggled in at Bryan Guenther’s place.)

Brian had a drum set and I brought my little 15 amp and we brought these guys here. That’s when we started hanging out and making noise. There used to just be a drum kit and a bed in here with all of these clothes just all over the floor and Daniel’s little 15 watt practice amp and a shitty guitar. We still have the amp and the guitar. We use his amp to drop and make noise with now. It’s pretty effective. We would have to trade off on instruments and sub in cups and beer cans to make sounds. Then we made a myspace page and that was sort of the beginning of actually having a band.

STUDENT TEACHER? IS THIS IN REFERENCE TO SOMETHING? I used to have a recorder just like this one that you’re using right now and I used to just sing and play acoustic. I guess I just came up with the name Student Teacher and made little tapes like this and annoyed them with them.

He would just bring it with us wherever we were going and just pull it out. We’d be sitting on the grass listening to Daniel’s jams.

No, that’s not where the name came from. It was back when you used to make songs with Sanguito and those guys.

Yeah but those were rap songs.

No, but I remember you made this one song and you asked me if I liked it, I told you yes and I remember that you had named it under Student Teacher on your itunes. I still have that on my ipod I think.

I hated that name at first. For like the first month that we were calling ourselves a band I wanted to change it. I don’t know, just the connotations of the schoolyard and children. It’s kind of grown on me now and now I see it in more of a dark light.

DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING AGAINST CHILDREN? Well doesn’t everyone? I can see how it would remind you of like, The Wall, “Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!” Which is the worst song ever made by anyone. I can see that being a cause for concern. And also ACDC with that stupid school uniform. Apart from that it’s a good name. When I came up with it I was thinking of an actual student teacher. The earnestness that comes with being a new teacher. You’re really excited to teach people and kids. In high school I remember getting excited about new student teachers. They had this really romantic view of school and teaching, and a bunch of brats who weren’t having any of it, and just thinking that sometimes those people just become jaded. 20 years later they become the ones that have the same curriculum every year and they have no soul. I had a student history teacher who had this band called Urbane Sprawl who had a huge beard. Everyday kids would try to get him to talk about his beard or his band but he never did.

PHOTO BY JANELLE HOLLYROCK, POSTER BY BOB SCOTT (TODD WAS STUCK UP NORTH SO TIMECOPZ DIDN’T END UP PLAYING THAT SHOW)

THERE ARE ALSO CHILDREN SPEAKING AT THE BEGINNING OF SOME OF YOUR RECORDED TRACKS. WHERE DID THOSE LITTLE VOICES COME FROM? I worked over the summer with a summer camp. I was a leader for underprivileged kids who got sent to summer camp by the government and I became really fond of them. I would make music with them and rap.

I always brought a cassette recorder with me just to do sound collages and stuff and I would ask them these philosophical questions about things like, “What do you think about being cool,” and other social pressures that are evident when you’re six and eight and becoming more intense. They would just have the funniest answers and they were so honest about everything. One day we came here and did one song and afterwards I was like,

“Oh maybe you should listen to this and maybe we can incorporate it.” We decided it sounded great. I just hope we don’t get sued or anything because of it… But yah, that’s right, at the beginning of the summer camp the parents signed a waiver saying that we can take pictures of the kids and record them, actually I may have taken it a little too far, I think it was just pictures. I also took lots of pictures of them! Honestly that would sound perverted but it was supposed to be a photo series where they would have fun in artificial playgrounds and then go to the park and I would take pictures of them.

You sound like a really upstanding citizen.

K PHOTO BY JANELLE HOLLYROC

It’s great that Daniel has such enthusiasm for these things.

That’s why Daniel’s so rad, because he’s like a kid, but a really cool kid.

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON THE VANCOUVER MUSIC SCENE? Vancouver seems to have a lot of punk bands. There are a few cool bands that we enjoy playing with. I like the scene that we play in. It’s a product of music that we play. We can’t really choose what scene we become a part of, we’re just glad that we haven’t been rejected.

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT GETTING YOUR BAND NOTICED HERE? I think we’ve been lucky with meeting nice people, namely Indian Wars who invited us to play at their house party with Dead Ghosts, which is great. I think that was the way we were put into the scene: meeting Indian Wars down at the 2 for 1 pizza place. It was all because of a Strange Boys t-shirt that Liam (Shiveral) commented on and then we realized that they lived about two blocks away from Brian. We have Dead Ghosts seven inches. We loved them and went to their shows a bunch so it was really surreal playing with them. Vancouver’s a city but its like a small town when you localize it to something that is maybe a little bit under the surface. It becomes a close community where you support each other and play shows together. If our landlords and neighbours ever agree to let us have a house show then they’ll be the first ones we ask. I wish they could sing me to sleep.

HEY, JUST A COUPLE RANDOM UPDATE QUESTIONS: JUST WONDERING WHAT THE NEWS IS ON THE 7” COMING OUT. WHEN SHOULD WE EXPECT IT, WHO IS MAKING IT, AND WHERE. YOU KNOW, THE BASIC INFO. Using the state of the art soniscaping facilities at Geographing Records we will be summoning the first Student Teacher record during the month of September 2010 thanks to the musically magic Jarrett Evan Samson. We’ll also hopefully have a split 7” released with Mr. Samson’s Shipyards, forged from the melted down hair of virginal Mexican teens (just kidding) and I think we’re also contributing a track to a “Safe Amplification Society” compilation which should be out pretty soon. Some of it will be old, some new. We haven’t really decided yet.

ARE THERE ANY PLANS OF TOURING AHEAD? The summer will see us busking outside several public pools in the Okanagan. In the rise of the month of August the Northwoods will receive us for drink and sound making, and perhaps an outdoor séance on a mountaintop? As far as touring we don’t really have any concrete plans. Our comrade Harrison wants to take us to China but I don’t know if they even allow rock n’ roll. We’ll probably get out there into the big wide world pretty soon provided we find someone to drive us. None of us have access to a car so it’s a bit problematic.

THANKS AGAIN GUYS… TALK TO YA SOON. Thanks for listening!

www.myspace.com/stdnttchr

BARRERACUDAS Dog Food / Diet Coke 7” single Bachelor Records BR35 2009 www.myspace.com/ barreracudas Oh gawd I love this ridiculous little song.

“Dog Food” has such an awesomely straight-up early punk/ garage-trash/glam sound and structure that just sounds perfect.

It’s New York Dolls/Ramones-ish, super-cute and the lyrics are soooo grossss! Not really, but kinda yah.

I actually sort of expected this 7” to suck… I guess I got caught up in the idea that it would actually be dog food so to speak… the cover sports a very convincing graphic of food and a collar in a dog dish. The back has a giant poodle and a set of Diet Coke Girl legs in boots that could go either way. The title song is to me the perfect blend of classic referencing and goofiness that makes garagepunk so much fun. You can check out the original/alternate version on their Myspace. The flipside “Diet Coke” seems to reference the bands’ peers and associates both literally/lyrically and musically i.e. Gentleman Jesse, Nobunny. It scores quite high on the cute scale as well. Head-bopping singalongs. Both cuts: mixtape worthy. (Morgan A. Cook) BEAT BEAT s/t LP Bachelor Records BR30 2009 www.myspace.com/ beatbeat Real solid 1st album from this Austrian band who have some really amazing songs like the hit opener “Last Night” and “Coke Machine”. And side two starts with a refreshing original punk ballad called “Wok Wok”, with some wonderful papa oom mow mowing! The 45 rpm 12 LP is worth it for those 3 excellent cuts alone. Beat Beat reminds me at times of The Briefs... probably due to the similarity of their singer to Steve E. NIX! Most of the LP

is good and trashy punk as good as ‘90s Crypt era bands. “Long Way” ends with guitar almost identical to a part of the Stones’ “Can You Hear Me Knocking”! Weird!

(Bob Scott) THE BLACK JASPERS s/t LP In The Red Records ITR185 2009 www.myspace.com/ theblackjaspers King Khan is also The Blacksnake, his moniker from The Spaceshits days, and this a great trashy psychedellic punk rock one-off LP with Jasper Hood (of German punk band Moorat Fingers) recorded when Blacksnake roamed over to Berlin, before The King Khan & BBQ Show came to be. This 2001 LP has finally been released, mastered by Crypt Records founder Tim Warren. The 12 songs are all great, and of course funny. Although they set out to make ‘77 punk songs, The Black Jaspers’ songs are as fresh as the day they were made in Khan’s own Moon Studios, due to Khan’s witty lyrics and the duo’s youthful energy.

I don’t think Khan gets naked to dance as much anymore but he’s welcome to teabag my momma anyday he feels squirrley! (Bob Scott) BROKE DOWN ENGINE s/t 7” Goodbye Boozy 2009 www.myspace.com/ brokedownengine7 This has gotta be my pick for the best release of this issue: An old-time folk style 7” from traditional

jug band of Pat Météor (Demon’s Claws) alongside various other members of Montreal’s garage community (Mart from Broken Jugs, Thee B-Sides, Scat Rag Boosters; Johann who also plays with Skip Jensen; and others).

This fantastic first release on the always excellent Goodbye Boozy label includes traditional bluegrass standard “Poor Howard” and guitar-pickin’ Robert Wilkins’ “That’s No Way to Get Along” plus two intoxicating originals: “Walk of Shame” that puts all harmonica-heavy gospels to shame, and the irreverent Bob Dylan-esque story of Pat’s life and hangovers, “The Wine”. Without sounding anything like their other bands, this release still has a feeling of familiarity, like without knowing it, it’s exactly what you’ve been waiting to hear all this time.

(Janelle Hollyrock) BROKEN JUGS Sorcererful Of Secrets EP Goodbye Boozy Records GB52 2009 www.myspace.com/ thebrokenjugs This 4 song ep is one of the best releases I’ve heard all year.

Broken Jugs are Martin Dupras (Scat Rag Boosters, Thee BSides), Jean-François (Thee B-Sides), and Humberto Mendez. The first cut, “To Tame You” will saturate your soul with psychedelic fuzz and reverberating tremolo guitar blasts. “Winter’s Breakfast Blues” is a sombre instrumental track with very nice flute accompaniment by uitarist/ vocalist Mart, who also plays a shruthi box, tanpura, and other percussion on this EP. Third track is “Love In Vein” which features Jordan B. Davis (Mystery Girls) on slide guitar, and finally “Wilderness” with

CAVERNARIOS/TELEKRIMEN split 7” Sprut & Rags Records SR01 2009 www.myspace.com/ sprutrags Outta Mexico City comes a split 7” of Mexploitation garage surf on new label Sprut & Rags from Goodbye Boozy’s Gabriele. First up is some howling horror surf from Telekrimen, then some snarling voodoo instrumental rock on the flipside, topped off by a sleeve of Halloween artwork by Bob Scott.

A quick and dirty dose of wild surf punk from far south of the border. (Janelle Hollyrock) CHERRY CHOKE s/t CD Elektrohasch 2009 www.myspace.com/ thecherrychoke This is the debut full length CD from this UK-based high energy trio and it takes a German label with the guts to put it out. If you dig late ‘60s inspired UK psyche meets hard rockin’ guitar sounds, then this is right up your alley.

Think MC5 (circa Back In The USA era) meets Cream (at their poppiest) meets Blue Cheer meets The Pink Fairies and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what Cherry Choke are up to. Loud, proud and rockin’ sounds abound on this CD! (Dave O’Halloran) CITY SWEETHEARTS SLEEPING THROUGH MODERN TIMES LP P-Trash Records 2010 www.myspace.com/citysweethearts Glam rock from Toronto that

opens with the refrain, “Boys with guitars will steal your heart”. City Sweethearts are certainly trying to take your breath away with their flirty lyrics and Marc Bolen harmonies, but there’s little of the campy wit and deranged rock ‘n roll found in obvious influence the New York Dolls. Without any memorable hooks, this is a solid record but one that lacks any excitement. (Janelle Hollyrock)

PHOTO BY JANELLE HOLLYROCK

Annie Laurin (Sunday Sinners, Les Sexareenos) playing farfisa on my favourite one, and that’s saying a lot! Astounding garage here, you won’t hear finer. And a fucking great cover photo too! 300 pressing on Italian label Goodbye Boozy.

(Bob Scott)

COSMETICS Soft Skin/ Black Leather Gloves 7” single Captured Tracks 040 2010 www.myspace.com/ cosmeticscosmeticscosmetics An ethereal first release from Vancouver’s Nic M and Aja Emma for those who like the look of Blondie and the moody depression of Joy Division. Recorded at mono recording studio Little Red Sounds with Felix Fung (who fills in on drums when the band plays live), “Soft Skin” is like listening to 45 rpm electronica on 33 while swimming under water, while “Black Leather Gloves” is a no wave dance track for leather fetishists on which I found Aja Emma’s breathlessly bored vocals more engaging than I usually do live. A brushed silver sleeve from Captured Tracks (a label home to Blank Dogs, Dum Dum Girls) that perfectly matches Cosmetics cold minimalist glamour. The soundtrack for loft parties and early morning postecstasy glows. (Janelle Hollyrock) DAVILA 666 Pingorocha y la Diva Rockera 7” Douchemaster Records 2009 www.myspace.com/davila666 Davila 666 have nailed the ‘60s

teen idol sound so perfectly you’d almost expect them to look sharp like the Ventures instead of being some jeans and leather jacket wearing Puerto Ricans whose name references to a notorious city slum. But fuck, do I ever love this band! This single, a 33 rpm offering, is slower than their previous releases with a real Jesus & Mary Chain feel, but damned if it ain’t some of the most unique garage pop you’re gonna hear.

“Pingorocha y la Diva Rockera” is a real bubblegum tune about two superfans who go to all the band’s shows in Puerto Rico, while ‘60s doo wop is represented on the flipside with the loco “Casi Las 3” and fuzzy garage on “Me Va Muy Mal”, a track reminiscent of what’s on their 2008 debut s/t album, which still hasn’t left my turntable.

Comes in a cool beachy sleeve designed by cut’n’paste artist CM Ruiz. (Janelle Hollyrock) DEMON’S CLAWS The Defrosting Of Walt Disney LP

In The Red 2010 www.myspace.com/ demonsclaws I should mention, before I start, that I have never done this before, and have really no idea how to go about it. But I do know quite well how to drink beer and listen to music. So, with that being said I’ll open the first of these goddamn warm beers and listen to this record a couple of times. The first song on Side A is “Fed From Her Hand”, a real primitive type number complete with animal howls, double-vocals in the same vein as “Wait” from Street Hassle or “Train Kept A-Rollin,” and a pounding drumline that will make you forget all about your warm beer and probably have you going for your second by the time it finishes.

The next track, “Last Time At The Pool”, is the kind of song that would accompany Teenage Head really well on a highschool mix-tape. “Mona’s Lunch” and “Laser Beams” follow with a certain white-trash feel to them, the kind of songs you wouldn’t be surprised to hear blaring in a double-wide on an old episode of Cops where they bust in on Mona drinking whiskey straight and eating chicken strips. To round off Side A is “At The Disco” and “Catch Her By The Tail”. Both are great songs, I really wish the guitar part was a bit louder on “Catch Her By The Tail”, but what are you gonna do? Aside from “All Three Eyes”, the rest of Side B should be pretty familiar unless you don’t read MZ or buy records. And, if that’s the case, you’re an idiot. The first of the re-recorded songs is “Trip To The Clinic”.

It seems to me that the demo had a warmer, more ‘mono’ feel to it, as if maybe a herpes stricken whore was giving me a big warm hug, now I feel the hug is metallic and more gonorrhe-

ic in nature. The Mark Sultan mixed “Anny Lou” is reminiscent of an old fashioned murder ballad that Nick Cave might be interested in. After that we have “Fucked On Ketamine”. I must confess I have never snorted Ketamine off of a dirty house key myself, but I have helped a friend, or, rather, dragged a friend, down the street and into a cab, so I can really see where the constant wah-wah and underwater guitar solo are coming from. The last two tracks are both sides from the Rob’s House singles and they don’t stray too far from their original sound. I wonder what ever happened to the other 8 recordings they allegedly recorded for RH, maybe they just defrosted as this record? (Rupert Jan Poondog) DEVIL EYES s/t CD Signed By Force SBF007 2010 www.myspace.com/wehavedevileyes Weird and heavy noise rock songs throughout this strange release.

The album is all over the place stylistically and not always to my taste. Some of the songs are repetitive but there are some good ones too, like the instrumental “Noctilucent Ghost”. The band is technically impressive and it’s just a matter of my personal taste that I have a mixed feelings about it, which is probably the desired effect! There are some truly bizarre moments on here and listeners will require some patience and an open mind to fully appreciate the album.

(Bob Scott) DOLLSQUAD Lethal In Leather CD Radio Rocks 2009 www.myspace.com/ theofficialdollsquad This is the 2nd full length from DollSquad, the all girl combo from Australia who borrowed their

name from the 1973 Ted Mikels flick that features Faster Pussycat!

Kill Kill actress Tura Satana. All clad in form fitting black leather on the CD cover, these young ladies belt out a fine mixture of ‘60s garage punk meets early ‘60s girl group and make it into their own unique sound. Sparse instrumentation and lots of hooks make these tunes instantly memorable and fun. A definite must have for all the GBG’s out there in Mongrel Zine land! (Dave O’Halloran) EEGOS Hot Face / I Won’t 7” Goodbye Boozy Records GB51 2009 www.myspace.com/ theeegos Like a pair of sexy punk girls dragging me around all night, I like both of these songs on here equally. I think of skinny punks jerking with wiry necks getting into this kbd punk.

This is just the thing for those sleepless party nights and you only have to remember to play one side. Nice stark cover art of an EC Comic style eyeball blown up so the halftone is all distressed.

Pressing of 300. An essential record! (Bob Scott) THE FRESH AND ONLYS Laughter is Contagious/Horrible Door 7” single Trouble in Mind 2009 www.myspace.com/thefreshonlys This single is so psychedelic The Fresh and Onlys could really only have come from San Francisco.

Their tunes have an unrefined, one-take feel to them. As the band has said, “songs just pass through.

You have to be there when they come.”

That sounds really hippie, but the songs passing

through here aren’t at all! Side A’s “Laughter is Contagious” juxtaposes distorted melodic vocals against a creepy laughing clown chorus, while “Horrible Door” on the flipside is a perfect lo-fi garage tune with a sweet harmonica and dreamy backing vocals. Like the ideal summer day spent smoking pot and eating fruit on the beach, the only flaw to this fantastic skyblue vinyl single is that it’s over too damn quickly. (Janelle Hollyrock) THE GARAGE GODS Had Enough Of Your Lies/She Don’t Love You Anymore 7” Lost In Tyme Records 2009 www.myspace.com/ thegaragegods If you dig authentic sounding ‘60s garage rock with all of the fuzz and Vox organ sounds intact, then you’re gonna love The Garage Gods from Portland Oregon. 2 original tunes on this that sound like they’d fit right in on one of the moodier ‘60’ compilations and you’d be hard pressed to tell this band is from today, not the ‘60s.

These guys are working on a full length right now, and if this is an indication, it’ll be a must have!

Toss in a full colour sleeve with artwork by King Merinuk and you’ve got a must have purchase!

(Dave O’Halloran) THE GEARS Rockin’ at Ground Zero/ THE D.I.s Rare Cuts double CD Hep Cat Records 2009 www.myspace.com/hepcatrecords “Don’t Be Afraid To Pogo!

Don’t Be Afraid To Relate!”

If you are a fan of either band, you are going to love this 2 cd set that was lovingly put together by Chris Ashford (founder of What Records? that put out seminal L.A. punk singles like The Germs’ first 7”) and released by Hep Cat. “Rockin’ At Ground Zero” has the Gears’ complete 1980 LP and also their 1979 demos and first 45 “Let’s Go To the Beach” (originally on Four Speed Music) with new

mixes and mastered

by Ron McMaster at Capitol records. These 23 punk classics are worth getting this set for alone. I just sit and salivate over the small fold out poster that’s a collage of gig posters and ticket stubs circa 1979-80 from venues such as The Starwood and Hong Kong Cafe where The Gears shared bills with so many legendary L.A. punk rock bands like Weirdos, Fear, X, Angry Samoans, The Plugz (!) and more.

I can only imagine how nuts they were! The companion disc is the D.I.s “Rare Cuts”. They were Gears vocalist Axxel G. Reese and Drummer Dave Drive as the core of the band with a long list temporary bassists and other musicians. This CD contains Dreamship sessions and Lock N’ Load 12” EP (both produced by X guitarist Billy Zoom). D.I.s weren’t to my taste as much as the Punk/ Rockabilly mayhem of the Gears.

They explored Roots and Rockabilly music more than punk but man they were a lot better than the mainstream rock music going on in the ‘80s… it reeked! The exploitation film image used as cover art on Rare Cuts CD (with a photoshopped breast tattoo) was also used on the Psychotronic Video Guide cover in 1996.

(Bob Scott) THE GOODNIGHT LOVING Nothing Conquers Us/ Scary Bad 7” Dirtnap Records

ZZZ88 2009 www.myspace.com/thegoodnightloving Another wonderful release from Wisconsin’s The Goodnight Loving. This talented band is gaining deserved recognition for its steady supply of great garage/folk music. “Nothing Conquers Us” is nothing short of amazing! “It’s So Scary” is a great creepy psychedelic song, I think it’s about a freak out on a walk trying to get a grip on a bad trip but everybody looks like sickos in a Crumb comic! Nice cover and label art on this black vinyl pressing, and it comes with an mp3 download coupon. (Bob Scott) HEADACHE CITY We Can’t Have Anything Nice P Trash Records 39 2009 www.myspace.com/headachecity Chicago’s Headache City has been getting good reviews all over the web ever since their Hozac 7” EP from 2008 sold out in one month, but mostly I just find these songs vocally boring and criminally re

petitive.

Featuring David R Head Jr. plus Lisa Roe and Mike Fitzpatrick of CoCoComa, We Can’t Have Anything Nice is guitar-heavy rock that doesn’t make any obvious missteps so if you like your punk rock safe and predictable, this is for you. (Janelle Hollyrock) HELL SHOVEL Already Gone/She Called Me Baby 7” Telephone Explosion Records TER015 2009 www.myspace.com/hellshovel Demon’s Claws singer/guitarist/ songwriter Jeff Clarke is freeballin’ it as Hell Shovel playing with various people. In Hell Shovel, Jeff allows himself to play more subdued, minimalist songs than he performs with the crazy Demon’s Claws most of the time.

“Already Gone” is a cool mix of country, garage and folk. Jeff does a good cover of Waylon Jennings’ “She Called Me Baby” too.

This was recorded conveniently at home and is the product of what happens when an extremely talented musician fiddles around and effortlessly comes up with something brilliant. Sounds immediate, like it was recorded in one take, I like how the near fuck ups are kept intact to the recording. (Bob Scott) Hockey Dad Presents: Farm Team V/A CD 2009 www.hockeydadrecords.com Put out by B-Lines singer Ryan, this is a bunch of Vancouver bands that he loves but couldn’t afford to release material through Hockey Dad in vinyl format.

The CD came with a limited

run zine, and is sold out, but it’s worth finding for the CD that has White Lung, Defektors Timecopz, Piece Pipe, N¸ Sensae, The New Values, The Moody Dudes, Hard Feelings, Dead Ghosts, Chrisa-riffic, The Bloggers, and B-Lines... The CD has a message to “make a tape for your friends!” (Bob Scott)

ical pop in the vein of Box Elders or Smith Westerns but when the lead-in to “Komi Caricoles” starts up with that cool as shit “…wooo OOO!” break at the beginning you know these guys are something else. Side B goes all cosmic with “Planet of the Dreamers” then brings you down with “Dock”. The vocals are so pitch perfect it’s only on subsequent INDIAN WARS listens that I even realized If You Want Me 7” all that’s going on with this Bachelor Records album from the echoing BR34 2009 reverb on “Smells Dead” www.myspace.com/ to the r’n’r sax on “I Saw strangehandsband It All”. Every song on here Fuck, this shit is sounds like a hit 7” A-side. good! Indian Wars Some really firm looking don’t need too many tits are getting groped on takes to get it right, the strange handrawn cover and I get the feeling

by Luc Paradis, who also they did the insert where they recorded had to list and list everyone these songs in just one who played what on which song. before heading out to Just so we keep it straight! A tranthe skatepark. This 7” scendental pleasure to listen to I sounds more like a live imagine the band getting fucked bootleg than a proper up on coke and playing to nursing release which means the homes full of retired Snowbirds familiar-to-locals single shuffling about in salmon pink “If You Want Me” and Hawaiian shirts. Perfect for sumthe harsh honky tonkin’ mertime, wear down your vinyl “Just Can’t Get Along than grab the included download With You” are pretty code. (Janelle Hollyrock & Bob much exactly what you’d Scott) get from these guys live.

Recorded by Dead Ghosts’ Drew W, this is just as trashy and lo-fi as you’d expect. Indian Wars exude the same raw garage as the Golden Catalinas (“Varsity Club Song” on Back from The Grave Vol. 1).

Just listen to Brad’s howling on “Pockets” and try ‘n tell me these guys don’t have that soulful garage touch. Dig the cool mystic watercolour by John Malta too. (Janelle Hollyrock) JACUZZI BOYS No Seasons LP Florida’s Dying FDR26 2009 www.myspace.com/jacuzziboys No Seasons is a great album with a psychedelic sound that is entirely fresh & original. It’s really melodious psych with lead guitarist Gabriel A’s silky smooth vocals.

Side A starts off with the single ready “Blow Our Your Lights” and “Island Ave.” in between some trop-

JAY BANERJEE Three Songs CD 2009 www.myspace.com/jaybanerjee If you dig that fragile jangly guitar style of powerpop that bands like The Last, The Hi-Fis, and Optic Nerve created then you’re gonna love this one! Just a hint of what’s about to be released, this 3 songer has that infectious

powerpop sound that always brings a smile to my face. Ringing Rickenbackers intricately laced together to create a delicate wall of sound that would be right at home on an unreleased Bomp outtake from 1978! It really is that good!!

(Dave O’Halloran) LE KID & LES MARINELLIS T’es pas d’ici/ Camille 45 Telephone Explosion TER016 2009 www.myspace.com/lesmarinellis Fun French rock ‘n roll from Montreal with members from garage bands Les Breastfeeders, Walnut Kids, and the Jet Fives. I knew I was in for some good r’n’r but I never expected this 45 to be so sixties! “T’es pas d’ici” on the A side sounds like a long lost hit from 13th Floor Elevators with a little bit of ye-ye thrown in to lighten things up while “Camille” on the flipside is more ‘60s flavoured psych spinning you around with all that trippy howling and tambourines. Dig it! (Janelle Hollyrock) KILLED BY TRASH VOL. 2 P-Trash Records 2009 www.ptrashrecords.com An all right punk comp from Germany distro P-Trash records that throws together 20 fast, snarling, and trashy bands off the label including tracks from Original Three (Ian from the Black Lips), Statues’ “Television Sect” (“All you ever do is sit around the box!

You got no self respect! You let your brain infect!”), and Rad Kids’ “Neon Lights” that sounds straight outta ‘77. The flipside is super

harsh with Cheap Thrills, Fucked Up, and CPC Gangbangs’ “L.A. Sleaze” (a slightly different version from the one on our Mongrel Zine Vol. 1 CD Comp, featuring Duchess Says’ A-Claude). I dug Cola Freaks doing Helen Keller’s “Surfin’ with Steve and E.D. Amin” (KBD by way of “I Wanna Be Sedated”). (Janelle Hollyrock) THE KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW Invisible Girl LP In the Red 2009 www.myspace.com/thekingkhanbbqshow A more subdued duo starts off this record with some subtle papa-oom-mow-mow whispering until they break out “Tastebuds” and “Animal Party”, the songs every one went to crazy to at the KKBBQ shows this winter. Only these two could sing, “tastebuds on my nuts so I can taste inside your butt” and make it sound as wholesome as a sock hop romance.

This LP isn’t as recklessly crazy as previous releases from these two, but Mark still has more soul in his turban than most bands can dream of! His vocals are, of course, as tragic as ever wrapping up Side A on “Third Ave”.

While the flipside is a more rollicking r’n’r offering that includes the terrorizing “Truth or Dare” and howler “Crystal Ball” with its uber cheesy spoken interludes that work perfectly with the so-bad-it’s-good b-movie art by Johnny Sampson (who also did The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines cover). Invisible Girl is familiar territory for KKBBQ fans, with the exception of a few random tracks like the ‘70s punk influenced “Lonely Boy” that sounds like Idiot era Iggy Pop covering Danny & The Juniors’ “At the Hop”! It’s just bizarre enough

to work. (Janelle Hollyrock) THE LIQUID VAPOURS 6 Smash Hits CD 2010 www. theliquidvapours. com Way cool 6 song CD of trashy garage rock from this new combo (at least to me) who hail from Nova Scotia. Must be something in the water there, as the combos just keep croppin’ up and most of them are pretty decent and rockin’. And indeed Liquid Vapours are on this fast and ferocious release that’s over way too soon! And if this is any indication of the live show, this is a band not to be missed! (Dave O’Halloran) LONESOME GHOST Empty Church Rough Cuts CD 2010 www.myspace.com/lonesomeghostsucks One guy fills his mouth with marbles and screams while smashing the living shit out of a Japanese cheapo reject guitar and the other guy beats hell out of his drumkit.

Musical? Oh indeedy, if you love the type of sounds that the Voodoo Rhythm Record label is famous for, you’ll dig these guys and their totally fucked up take on the blues.

It’s primal lo-fi stomp and holler blues that’ll wake the dead! And for some really odd reason, people here in London actually dig them!?! Can’t figger that out at all, as they’re the total opposite to all of the other bands around here, but WTF, let’s enjoy this while we can. And the CD is a total DIY project in itself; the band recorded themselves in an empty church, duplicated the CDs themselves and found some old CD cases that they individually handlettered their name and song titles onto with a sharpie… now that’s REAL punk rock! (Dave

O’Halloran) MANYMENTAL MISTAKES Clean the Tape! CD 2009 www.myspace.com/manymentalmistakes A confined breath with Chaotic Contamination is reciprocated when listening, similar to losing an extremity due to plague or gangrene aggression that turns blood cells from red to black. I get an uneasy swell of A type Nausea not to be confused with the annoying rigors of things mundane, but that of an enjoyable ride locked in to a linear descension as that of a 45 on a turntable that knows no end. This would be my only gripe of this EP, is that to really get you trapped, a vinyl viable solution would suit it quite proper. Brought in by the Equitus group of Eva, Vaan & MJ with Templar machinations exalting that imagery can be as prolific as that of lyrical prose & ohm structure. I think their videos are well suited. If you’re off medication & appreciate similar stylings to Lake of Dracula, then you’re there. (Valmont) MARK SULTAN I Am the End / Catastrophe 7” single In the Red 2009 www.marksultan.com A heartbreaking single from Mark Sultan (with Choyce) that I listened to every day for months this winter. “I am the End” is an aching track about time passing in which Mark’s every vocal gave me goosebumps.

Even the feedback made me suicidal!

“Catastrophe” on the flipside is a faster r&b tune where Mark sings about sunlight and dreams, but still sounds tired and lonesome.

These two songs are also coming out on Mark’s new $ CD/LP. It’s being released on Last Gang Records (best known for electro dance acts like Metric) which Mark sez will help him branch out and change things up a bit. Interesting!

(Janelle Hollyrock)

MARVELOUS DARLINGS The Only Ones for Miles/Follow Me Home 7” PTrash Records 2009 www.myspace. com/marvelousdarlings Originally intended for an LP that never got around to coming out due to the label folding, these two tracks have found a home on this single from P Trash. Marvelous Darlings (Ben Cook from Fucked Up, Matt Delong, Mark Fosco, and Serdi on drums) have already released 4 singles from the dead-on-arrival album on various labels like Deranged, Wallride, and Bachelor Records but expect at least four more to come even though Matt has since left Toronto for L.A. “The Only Ones for Miles” and “Follow Me Home” are two happy punk tracks for the kids not unlike what you woulda found on Lookout! in the ‘90s.

Play it at your next all-ages house party. (Janelle Hollyrock)

release goes, but will work when you’re in the mood to immerse yourself in some aural tar sands. (Janelle Hollyrock) MYELIN SHEATHS Bachelor Records BR036 2010 www.myspace.com/ myelinsheaths Truthfully I wasn’t blown away by their set at The Rock and Roll Pizza Party back in January with Moby Dicks and Indian Wars, the latter being the best on the bill that night. I thought they had attitude without being able to back it up. However that said, I was surprised that I liked their 7” at all, as cool as the CM Ruiz cover art was, I was expecting little. I liked all 4 lo-fi indie garage rock tunes offered up

by Myelin Sheaths, wretched little hipsters that they are. (Bob Scott)

NOBUNNY Raw Romance CASS Burger Records BRGR012 2009 www.myspace.com/nobunnylovesyou Really glad I made this little present to myself when I went to see MESS FOLK Nobunny play on my 40th birthday.

This is Mess Folk Creepy sex rabbit mask! A perfect CASS cassette is no easy feat! A shitty Self released demo cassette can drive a person mad, 2009 ffwding through the muck, until www.myspace.com/ the tape sounds garbled from messfolk hitting play guessing where the ok Twelve tracks from song Philip Tarr of Mess starts Folk, an experimental so many sometimes one-man times. band from Nova Not the Scotia (although his case Myspace now states here!

Yukon). This tape fea- You’re tures just Tarr but Mess Folk has good put out a few more releases with to get additional members, including a on with recent 7” on Hozac. To say this your day tape is “lo-fi” is putting it mildly. be it doIt starts out in full-on bored loner ing your playing around with a four track chores in dark, dirty basement mode or then shifts into a few interesting getting garage punk tracks before comdrunk pletely unraveling into some weird and dynoise. It’s pretty uneven as far as a ing

in the gutter (with a walkman I guess).

Raw Romance tape starts off and ends with a sample of Ben Gazzara exploding in Buffalo 66 and there are more samples to discover throughout.

A lot of the songs are alternate, more acoustic versions of songs from Nobunny’s debut LP Love Visions. The intimate duet with Cody Marsh caught me off guard and I think it’s one of the prettiest songs ever recorded. The lyrics to this collaborative song make me sad and nostalgic and I think I discovered why old people cry all the time.

Luckily there’s the feel-good song “Mess Me” after that! This one was recorded live at WHPK Chicago.

“Monster Boots” is a great track, a coked out Jimmy Buffett boating song, it kind of reminds me of some of Ween’s ‘70s rock parody stuff but without the irritating helium vocals. I’m totally hooked on Nobunny’s bubblegum punk.

(Bob Scott) THE NYMPHETS I See 7” single Signed By Force 2009 www.thenymphets.com What can I say? I’m a sucker for the Nymphets. This powerful trio captured my heart the first time I saw them in a tiny pub in Ottawa with the White Wires. Heard they were from Brooklyn, then Montreal, now rumour has it they’re in Austin or maybe Calgary? Who knows. Either way this little 7” is stellar. “I See” is a total anthem. Whap-whapwhap-whap drums with hissy snare and rangy guitar. Everyone shout: “I see, I see it’s TRUE!” The B-side has a whimsical little version of the Troggs’ “With a Girl Like You” and another super-fast sweet punk number called “I Hate Everybody Else”. On Signed By Force Records. Probably my favourite 7” cover art ever. I’m not going to tell you what it looks like, go get it, it’s worth it! (Morgan A. Cook) Our Boy Roy v/a LP Telephone Explosion Records TER017 2010

www.telephoneexplosion.com The night Roy Orbison died I had a dream about him, I shit you not! Upon awakening from the dream and discovering his passing, I would answer the telephone saying “Roy Orbison?”. If that dream had had a soundtrack it might have went a little like “Our Boy Roy”! A tribute to one of the smoothest voices in music history is no small feat and one would normally head into these waters with trepidation but not on this! I love the cover art of Roy’s negative space face. Many of the bands on this album have previously released material on Toronto’s Telephone Explosion label.

Starts off with crunchy guitar rendition of “Problem Child” by Camero Werewolf Band (livefastdie).

Jacuzzi Boys give a really fresh take on “You Got It”, I happen to like it more than the original version’s sanitized ‘80s MTV friendly sound (with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne). I was dismayed when I heard that, it was miles from the Sun Records rock ’n’ roll I really liked and became estranged with Roy a little after hearing it. Ty Segal’s amazing “Problem Child” has Ty yelping like Roy through a crazy digital delay pedal and it’s really demented and wild! Reminded me of The Chrome Cranks a little.

Things like this make up for the mental scarring the film inflicted, shit like that negated the value of the original song, The Hardrock Cafe/ RnR Hall Of Famer sportsbar shit that glorified Roy Orbison and made me stop listening to certain songs of his for years. Most of the issues I have with some songs on here pertain to the vocal delivery, not that I am expecting to hear anyone sing ‘like’ Roy, but for example on The Cheater Slicks version of “Crying”, the vocalists approach to the song is to tackle it straight and it falls short in a bad karaoke way, although I like Cheater Slicks normally. It doesn’t make up for the KD Lang duet that killed the song for me originally. Bloodshot Bill gives us

a very capable rendition of a lesser known 1956 Sun Records song, “Cause Of It All”. Haunted George, Holy Cobras, and Charlie & the Moonhearts are also present on this tribute to the original albino rock and roller. Musically everyone takes first prize for offering unique sounding versions of songs that most of us have heard since before we were born. Overall, I’m thankful to be able to hear this kind of tribute. (Bob Scott) PETROLEUM BY-PRODUCT Superficial Artificial LP 2009 www.myspace.com/petroleumbyproduct If you’ve been reading this zine for any length of time, you’ve probably read about PBP (interview in MZ #6) or heard some of their songs on the CD comps with MZ. So, ya, you already know that PBP are from Vancouver and they re-create that late ‘70s/early 80s hard edged new wave synth punk quite nicely. For those that aren’t familiar with PBP, think Polyrock, Our Daughters Wedding, Tubeway Army, or just about any other synth band from that era that could rock, yet keep it danceable.

When I first heard “Tartan Army” (MZ CD #1) it became an instant fave of mine, that condescending attitude that everyone looks the same was just so appropriate for the pounding, yet catchy electronic mess of synths, bass and drums.

That song is included on this LP, now re-named “Mad About Plaid”, plus 2 other tunes that have been included on MZ CD’s, “Ain’t Got Money” and “T.V. Date”, which coincidentally were also faves of mine.

In fact, I dig the whole LP, it just captures the best of that era and retains the energy and vitality of it so well! (Dave O’Halloran) THE POLYMORPHINES Transistor Sistor CD Get Bent Records 2008 www.thepolymorphines.com This is the 2nd full length CD by this Ottawa based combo and like the first, this is garagey sounding guitar rock with lots of hooks.

Couple of personnel changes since the first release, but that hasn’t changed the direction or style of this band. Tough, gritty barroom rock’n’roll highlight these tales of hard times, bad luck, and colourful characters. Maybe even a little reminiscent of mid ‘70s Rolling Stones (circa Mick Taylor era) due to the way the dueling guitars work together and the subject matter. But don’t let that turn you off (if you’re not a fan of that Stones era), these guys sweat rock’n’roll in a really cool way!

(Dave O’Halloran) POPPETS s/t 12” FDH / P Trash Records 2009 www.myspace.com/ poppetsband I dunno, maybe this is what happens when you get to #23 outta #31 music reviews you have to write in one day, but goddamn this album is grating on my last nerve. It’s actually exactly what I’d expect those stuffed Tribbles toys from the ‘80s, the Poppels, to sound like so good choice on the name.

Basically The Poppets are a duo of guitarists (Lina & Magnus) from Sweden who try for catchy pop punk but just miss the mark due to jarring vocals and a tedious electronic drum machine. (Janelle Hollyrock) THE POWERCHORDS More Than Me / Chemical Girl 7” single Bachelor Records BR37 2009 www.myspace.com/ thepowerchords I’ve been unknowingly listening to The Powerchords’ best of “Think I’m Gonna” quite consistently for the last six months. Given to me on an unlabelled

CD by Sarah Ford with a grunt of, “You’ll like this…” What’s not to like? Reminded me of the Dickies.

The songs are tight and clever and keep you interested and bopping along. At any given point either “Dream Girl”, “She’s a Virgin”, “Tia Carrere”, or “New Pheromones” are rattling around somewhere in my brain. Having the 7” land on my turntable was a forehead-smacking moment of revelation followed quickly with hope of a recording from a band who’s pleased you in the past. It’s a little sadder and jaded but still super energetic. “Chemical Girl” has a tight dark edge that sounds like the Buzzcocks. On the flipside the chord progressions in “More Than Me” are heart wrenching. It’s a surfy break-up song coated with high-energy punk. So yes, they delivered and I can finally put a name to my love affair. (Morgan A. Cook) PRIMITIVE HANDS Split Mind/I’ll Die Alone 7” Tic Tac Totally TTT031 2009 www.myspace.com/ primitivehands Brian Hildebrand, drummer of Demon’s Claws (and ex drummer of Mind Controls and Confusers) with a lotta other members including some Demon’s Claws (Ysael, and Pat). This recently formed Primitive Hands play minimal primitive garage that I’m dying to see live! “Split Mind” has Brian imploring: “Cut off my balls baby, so I just can’t come! Waaaaagh!”

Man! Flipside is the more mellow “I’ll Die Alone” with a bluesy psychedelic rhythm that’ll shake your hips. Surefire makeout music!! (Bob Scott) RATAS DEL VATICANO Chido 7” EP Volar Records VOLAR03 2010

http://volarrecords.blogspot.com 4 blasts of weird Mexican hardcore punk on thick black vinyl release. Creepy cover art by Yecatl from Inservibles, who also did their Ratas Head logo. More vocals from female bassist Violeta on this 7” than on their entire 25 song debut LP. Check out the latest news at www.myspace.com/ ratasdelvaticano... 2nd LP coming soon!!! (Bob Scott) RED MASS s/T CD Semprini Records 2009 www.myspace.com/ redmassfce This is some of the best music being produced in the world today! Choyce and the Roller (bass /electronics) lead Red Mass with (roughly) 20 talented musicians and artists, including past collaborators Jena Roker and Dan Pedro Dorito. Choyce writes the best hardboiled crime poetry for, and about, desperate drug addicted lovers — their lives wildly out of control! Roy is breaking sound barriers with his masterful guitar playing, experimenting in a mad scientist’s lab full of pedals and equipment.

All the songs are top notch and have many memorable passages that I will chant aloud to when I finally get to see them play live, like this sample of the drum machine driven street punk song “Success For Crime”: “I’m so broke / I rob your store / I break your door. I’m feeling lucky / gonna get my money / then I’ll fly high!”

Even when I’m old and losing my marbles I’ll still be shouting

out words from “Party Til I Die” a nihilistic punk party anthem – not a jingle for a jock sausage fest! (Think Black Flag, not Andrew W.K.!) On “I’m on Fire” I get a vicarious rush from the coke drip vocal fx and Prince in a woodchipper guitar insanity that ends this 7 song release! Red Mass urgently take rock and roll back to the heart and to the outer limits and “has opened itself to all with a sincere belief that it can offer young artists and outsiders alike a new haven.” Be warned!

Salvation has a price: Red Mass songs will never leave your brain!

I could go on but I’ll spare you – just take a listen to their myspace and order this CD through www. semprinirecords.com. A vinyl version is coming! (Bob Scott) RED MASS To All the Good People/The Truth About Baby Jane 7” Dusty Medical Records DMR019 2010 www.myspace.com/ redmassfce Dusty Medical Records honcho Kevin Meyer, who also put out the final great release from Montreal’s CPC Gangbangs, lets Red Mass do what they do best, which is offer up 2 totally different sounding songs! “To All The Good People” is a raw lo-fi sounding punk song that reminds me of Testors a bit.

Choyce is awesome here almost yodeling the lines. B side is one of the best Red Mass tunes to date: “The Truth About Baby Jane”. Since the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane reaches its climax on a beach, the song’s sinister surf vibe is fitting with The Roller’s nightmarish electronic accompaniment. Seek out everything from the prolific Red Mass! New split on P Trash with Strange Attractor out soon!

(Bob Scott) THE ROYAL HANGMEN Mary Jane/You Better Tell That Girl 7” Lost In Tyme Records 2009 www.myspace.com/theroyalhangmen Swiss based ‘60s style garage rock-

ers that let loose something fierce on “Mary Jane” with loads of throbbing organ, screams and fuzz that’ll put a stupid grin on your mug! A primitive floor pounding tune, that’ll get even the non-dancers moving and grooving. Flip it over and you get the more moody, jangly “You Better Tell That Girl” with it’s poppy addictive chorus that once again was meant to get the kids up dancing as the chorus tends to pick up more and more momentum as the song goes on.

(Dave O’Halloran) THE SCREWED 1977 CD 2009 www.myspace.com/thescrewed 4 veterans of the original Toronto punk scene decide to form a band and play their favourite 1977 (hence the CD’s title) punk rock tunes for the fun of it and you get to reap the benefit on this CD. You know most, if not all of the songs (if not, take Punk Rock 101 on your nearest college radio station) as they’ve been ingrained into your brain for way too many years and you know what? They still sound as fresh today as they did back in ‘77. You’ve got everyone from the Sex Pistols to the Damned to the Buzzcocks to the Ramones to The Boys and many more represented on these classic punk rock tunes that’ll turn your next party into an instant pogo-athon! And there was a neat little throwback in the liner notes, “engineer Simon Less” which was Peter Moore’s (who actually is the producer on this CD) punk rock name back when he recorded live shows and played them on CHRW back in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s!

(Dave O’Halloran) SEDATIVES s/t LP Deranged Records 2009 www.myspace.com/sedativesedatives An excellent debut LP by Seda-

tives out to prove that, as they claim in their liner, Ottawa is a killer place to live. Fast and vicious powerpop with infectious guitar hooks and Ian Manhire’s distinctive organ that starts the record off and doesn’t let up.

“Cannot Calm Down” on Side A remains my favourite Sedatives song, moody and absolutely dripping with church organ wail. Side B is more punk than the flipside but the Sedatives deluge you with enough catchy choruses that by the time you get to the anthemic “No Time” you’ll be wondering where it all went.

Of course there’s musical whiffs of all your pop punk favourites like the Pointed Sticks in there, but not so much that you’d wonder why you aren’t just listening to them instead. (Janelle Hollyrock) SONIC AVENUES s/t LP and CD Going Gaga Records 2010 www.sonicavenues.com I first heard Sonic Avenues on a CD EP they released back in 2007 on Ricochet Sound and dug it immensely. In fact those Kinksian influenced ‘60s sounds grabbed me so much, that it became one of my fave releases from that year!

But lo and behold, that in no way prepared me for the full throttle assault of this full length release on the highly regarded Going Gaga label! Gone are most of the ‘60s influences, replaced by late ‘70s wall of powerpop guitar rock in the tradition of The Records, The Rich Kids, The Nerves, and countless others that have mined those pearls. The tightly wound dual Rickenbacker attack holds it all together as the vocals are mixed low enough to give these recordings a tough, yet instantly recognizable sound.

Repeated listens bring out more and more of the hooks that are lurking in

the wall of sound that is infectious and catchy for sure. Can’t say enough about this one, as it’s been difficult to remove from my turntable. And live, they can re-create this sound and throw in long forgotten powerpop covers from the late ‘70s that’ll catch you off guard.

Watch out for that Pointed Stick!

(Dave O’Halloran) THE SPITS Pain 7” EP Slovenly Recordings/ Thriftstore Records 702-89 2009 http://www.thespits.com/index.html I love this 7”. Possibly their best, or 2nd to it. (The perceived best here being their other 4 song 7” to date: 2001’s 19 Million A.C!) Starts with “Army Bound”, a great keyboard driven song about the chaos and destruction of war (that was also on our Mongrel Zine Volume 2 CD Comp that came with Issue 5, to compliment the band’s interview). “Pain”, recorded

by Lo Spider, is my favourite on here, a Sabbath cum punk rocker in capable hands, Sean Wood is a Riffmaster! The Spit-o-lizer has never sounded more fucked. “Beat You Up” ends this EP perfectly.

This is part of a series of 7”s with custom-printed, custom die-cut dust sleeves on Slovenly’s new Thee 45 Series!

Thee series includes releases

by Los Vigilantes, King Automatic, Digger & the Pussycats, and more each limited to 300 or 500 pressing.

(Bob Scott) THE STANCE I Left Love Behind A Long Time Ago LP/CD Just Friends Records 2010 http://thestance.ca It’s been 4 years since The Stance released their debut CD ‘Shall

Inherit The Earth’ and the wait was well worth it! Hailing from Sydney, Nova Scotia, The Stance play a fairly unique hybrid of mid ‘60s UK sounding garage meets soul meets rhythm and blues all stewed and brewed for maximum pleasure. From the whiney soulful vocals (think Television’s Tom Verlaine if he put some effort into his singing) to the thinking man’s wall of guitar sounds to the barrage of drums, to the effortless bass, everything here just clicks together perfectly. An amazing record from such a young band, and it just gets better every listen! Live, these guys can get a crowd dancing in no time as I’ve witnessed several times! (Dave O’Halloran) STICKS N STONES Red Light 7” single Dusty Medical Records DMR020 2010 www.myspace.com/ sticksnstoned Two fast and flippant garage pop tunes with that distinctive Milwaukee sound from a city that seems to sprout a new garage band every month.

On the always rockin’ Dusty Medical Records, the first single from Sticks N Stones debuts the power pop stylings of Paul Kalfahs (guitar/vox), Jon Heibler on drums (both formerly in defunct Wisconsin punk bands Teenage Rejects and Catholic Boys), and Natalie Clark on bass (also in girl group superband The Flips). If you like anything else coming outta the Midwest right now, you’ll definitely dig this threesome. (Janelle Hollyrock) STRANGE ATTRACTOR s/t CD Red Lounge Records RLR058 2009 www.myspace.com/ onestrangeattractor Brash and snotty psychedellic garage punk from Ontario. This 19song CD is over as fast as a pepper spraying... but more fun depending on what you’re into.

This is a great debut and I hope to hear more from Strange Attractor as they evolve. This release has a lot of fast spastic punk anthems kinda Reatards/sped up Ramones.

A few tracks lean more towards traditional garage and a couple have a Merseybeat feel believe it or not, like “Litty Oh Litty”. One of my favorites was weird punk like the outstanding “We’re A Druggie Family”! I think the band is at its most original here and sound pretty fucking crazy! Look out for their split single with Red Mass on P Trash! (Bob Scott) TANDOORI KNIGHTS Pretty Please/Bucketful 7” Norton Records 2009 www.myspace.com/ tandooriknights Rituals... sacrifice... tasty treats... and hot wax! It’s the debut single from Bloodshot Bill and King Khan!

Pretty Please mixes up some sweet sitar magic while on the flipside BB growls about needing bucketfuls of love like they’re greasy ribs and he’s been held hostage by PETA for the last month. Hot n’ spicy and as satisfying a release as you’d expect from these two. Dig in!

(Janelle Hollyrock) TEENANGER Give Me Pink LP Telephone Explosion 2010 www.myspace.com/ teenangerrr I lost my liner notes (or maybe it never came with any?) so I’m gonna make this one quick and dirty, just like the LP: Toronto’s Teenanger (featuring members of weird noise band Quebexico) are just now putting out their debut album but having done their time on bills with fellow labelmates Demon’s Claws, they’re definitely not strangers to boozy garage

punk and it shows. Like a more restrained Stooges but with the same raw lo-fi power, vocalist Alex Lekay really nails those Iggy Pop drawls, and the occasional girl harmonies courtesy of bassist Sharon Needles and garage rock harmonica makes you forget just how scuzzy this debut album really is. Check it out on the band’s inhouse label Telephone Explosion.

(Janelle Hollyrock) TY SEGALL/BLACK TIME split LP Telephone Explosion TER014 2009 www.telephoneexplosion. com The dichotomy of Telephone Explosion pairing together the California surf punk of Ty Segall with the dark punk as fuck Black Time works brilliantly! Ty Segall starts things off with the instrumental “Schwag” leading into “Swag” which I feel like I’ve heard a million times already but love nonetheless and then mixes it all up with his best ape yells on the Dwarves’ “Be A Caveman”.

Ty’s howling growl and persistent

kick drum is accounted for on all tracks, especially the reverb heavy “Goin Down”. Unlike Londoners Black Time who don’t bother with any fancy effects on their five no frills Suicide meets Black Flag tunes that end with bassist Janie Too Bad screaming “You don’t love me like I love you / You don’t love me I DON’T THINK SO” on the final track. Don’t tell her that I secretly do, she may just spit in my face.

(Janelle Hollyrock) LOS WAKAMONOS 4 Fancy Eleki Hits! 7” Go Ape Records 2009 www.myspace. com/loswakamonos Japanese garage surf duo (Chao Young and Nisshin Young) heavily influenced by The Ventures, Monster Island, and Crypt Records.

Lotsa fuzz and reverb and eleki (electric) guitar fittingly released on Brooklyn label

Go Ape. Why do Japanese rock ‘n roll bands always seem to be having more fun than us!? (Janelle Hollyrock) THE WALNUT KIDS Can’t Stand ‘Em 7” EP Going Gaga Records 2010 www.myspace.com/thewalnutkids Debut 7” from Montreal’s The Walnut Kids and it’s on Going Gaga Records, so you KNOW it’s gonna be good. And indeed it is, as garage punk guitar rock meets powerpop on this loose and rockin’ record that sounds like these guys had as much fun recording as I had listening to it! Hooks galore as these songs will get caught in your noggin and bring a grin to your face! And if these tunes are any indication, The Walnut Kids are a must see band for fans of fun rock’n’roll, powerpop and garage! (Dave O’Halloran)

BUY MONGREL ZINE ONLINE AT www.mongrelzine.ca AND IN STORES! IN VANCOUVER: Dandelion Records (2442 Main Street), Neptoon Records (3561 Main Street), Red Cat Records (4307 Main Street), Scratch Records (726 Richards Street), Zulu Records (1972 West 4th Avenue), Mintage (1714 Commercial), Bone Rattle (2012 Commercial). IN CALGARY: Sloth Records (736 17th Ave SW). IN MONTREAL: Primitive Records (3828 Saint-Denis), Les Disques Sonik (4050 Berri at Duluth), La Galerie Monastiraki (5478 St-Laurent), Sound Central Record Shop (4486 Rue Coloniale). IN LONDON, ON: Grooves Record Store (353 Clarence Street). And IN EUROPE we’re distributed through P.Trash (www. ptrashrecords.com)... and maybe more?

Right before putting out our last issue Bob and I moved in together, and you’d think combining the forces of both our record, book, and zine collections would’ve made this issue a breeze but it was not to be! A misguided attempt at vegetarianism, the goddamn Olympics bringing all sorts of piggy flues to town, and Bob carving his upcoming solo art show, Corklore at Monastiraki, pretty much guaranteed that putting this issue out would be equal parts sleep-deprived hilarity and hard slogging. It turned our already barely un-packed home into a demonstrable war zone. We needed GPS just to get out from under all the 45s and wine corks! Somehow amid this chaos we managed to put together a few interviews for ya... but not without help! Thanks so much to Allan for coming through with the Subhumans interview, and Ashley for talking to my fave East Coast band, White Wires. Bob, of course, always does the best interviews Number 8, May 2010 under stress and he’s in fine form going off on Survival Research Labs and Crass with Jessie and Erin from Spider. And it must be summer, EDITORS Janelle Hollyrock cuz I’ve been listening to nuthin but powerpop lately! In fond rememBob Scott brance of the recently disbanded TVees and the parting ways of Jarrod from The Tranzmitors, I give you interviews to read with power popCONTRIBUTORS pers Wendy Norton from Plexi 3 and The Flips, plus Montreal’s Sonic Andrea Baeza Avenues. And as always, thanks to Mark for the “Nobody But You” track Scott Beadle that opens our fantastic (if I may say so myself) MZ Vol. 5 comp and Morgan A. Cook for inadvertently hipping me to Johnny Sampson, our cover artist who Ashley Desjardine did that amazing painting on the KKBBQ Invisible Girl record.

Gary Pig Gold This month Vancouver sadly lost two memorable musicians in the same Mandi Idle week, the drummer for YSPWSD & Hard Feelings (Devon Clifford, Allan MacInnis 1979-2010) and our friend and Electric Demons singer (Tarja Ridgewell, Dave O’Halloran 1974-2010). Along with Jay Reatard and the too-many other deaths so Rupert Jan Poondog far this year, they will be missed.

Skinny Tim (Janelle)

CONTENTS JOHNNY SAMPSON WENDY NORTON WHITE WIRES THE MIDWEST BEAT SONIC AVENUES BLOODIED BUT UNBOWED OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SAY… MR. CHI PIG MEIKO KAJI RETROSPECT LIT REVIEWS MOVIE REVIEWS LIVE REVIEWS MARK SULTAN SUBHUMANS TANDOORI KNIGHTS JACUZZI BOYS THOSE DARLINS JAMES T. KIRKS SPIDER STUDENT TEACHER MUSIC REVIEWS

Valmont

Thanks to everyone who sent in something to review -- if we missed COVER what you mailed us, it was either too aw- “Barf” Illustration by Johnny ful for inclusion or we just ran outta time.

Sampson There was a lotta good stuff we bought Layout by Bob Scott this issue that we needed to share first!

CONTACT We’ll get to some of what’s still hanging mongrelzine@gmail.com around in MZ#9! In the meantime... Fancy Mag and Go Ape records sent us a clip BUY ONLINE AT art zine and two rockin’ comps, a DVD www.mongrelzine.ca and CD of crazy videos and tracks featuring Hawkwind, Les Hou-Lops, Bigfoot © 2010, Mongrel Zine. No part & Wildboy, Bo Diddley, and The Mum- of this publication may be mies! We didn’t review it but it’s all rad! reproduced without asking us first.

Check ‘em out at www.fancymag.com.

Y N N H N JO O S P M SA INTERVIEW BY JANELLE HOLLYROCK

JANELLE: SO I FIRST SAW YOUR ARTWORK ON THE SUPREME GENIUS OF KING KHAN & THE SHRINES, AND THEN AGAIN MORE RECENTLY ON KKBBQ’s INVISIBLE GIRL LP. HOW’D YOU MEET THOSE GUYS AND END UP DOING THEIR ALBUM COVERS? JOHNNY: My friends turned me on to KKBBQ a while back. I contacted them about doing a poster for a Chicago show and they obliged. I met them at that show and the rest is history I guess. I really dig their music, and it was nice to find out they’re good guys, too. Arish contacted me about doing a tour poster for the Shrines, and it turned into the album art. They must have been pretty

and doing hundreds and hundreds of storyboards for shitty, shitty movies, I came back to Chicago and found my niche working in advertising. Which may sound shitty, but it’s one of the few places where people recognize your value and actually compensate you for it.

Anyway, I guess my first gig poster was in the early ‘90s for the punk band I was in. I made an effort to get myself involved in poster-making proper in 2005. Gig posters are fun for me to do, but I really don’t get to do them too often. There’s so many talented designers out there, especially here in Chicago, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.

WHAT OTHER ALBUMS HAVE YOU DONE ART FOR? I did a GI Joe-inspired cover for a local band Cooler By The Lake.

YOU DON’T HAVE A VERY LARGE PORTFOLIO ONLINE… WHEN DID YOU START DOING ART AND GIG POSTERS? Well, I’ve been drawing and painting for all my life, but “professionally” relatively recently.

After I got out of college, I was more interested in playing rock music and having fun in Chicago. I wasn’t very disciplined. After that had run its course, I started focusing on my art as a career. After moving to Los Angeles

JOHNNY PHOTO BY ED KNIGHT

jazzed about it since they asked me to do the Invisible Girl cover.

They were fun to work with, as I’m sure you can imagine.

For me it was a real thrill to be a part of the package. As a fan, you can’t really ask for more than that.

If my portfolio seems a little light, I’d say that until recently I didn’t really have an audience for it. I know I’m supposed to be compelled to create because that’s what driven artists do, and if you can do it, that’s great, but if everything you’ve done is just sitting in a corner collecting dust, it’s not very motivating.

Until recently, that was kind of my mindset. Now that I’ve been plugged in to the internet, with sites like FB and gigposters, I’ve connected with a lot of like-minded people. I’m kind of a late-bloomer when it comes to that stuff.

YEH, YOU WERE AT FLATSTOCK 21 (ANNUAL EXHIBIT HOSTD BY THE AMERICAN POSTER INSTITUTE & GIGPOSTERS.COM), DO SITES LIKE GIGPOSTERS.COM AND FLATSTOCK HELP GET YOU NOTICED TO YOU THINK? Definitely. For the internet, Gigposters has unquestionably given me visibility I would otherwise not have had. It’s led to jobs and friendships that I am eternally grateful for. It’s pretty rad.

That was my first Flatstock. It was nice to put faces to the designers seen on Gigposters. Too bad they’re not very good looking people.

HA! SO JUDGING BY YOUR MYSPACE, YOU’RE INTO THE BLUES? I love blues, not “Blues Hammer” blues, but old R&B. Lightnin’ Hopkins is my all time favorite, Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, I could go on and on...

DO YOU PERFORM LIVE? WHAT’S THE STORY WITH YOUR MUSIC? I do perform live every now and then. There’s a rockabilly open mic here in Chicago called the Big C put on by Jimmy and Gabrielle Sutton. It’s a blast, you can walk up and play 3 songs with total strangers. If you have a song that’s remotely dance-able, everybody gets

down. It’s very gratifying. I don’t have a band. Though I’d like to have one, it’s not really in the cards for me at the moment. I’m pretty busy with my work and our 16 month-old daughter.

WHAT BANDS ARE YOU DIGGING RIGHT NOW? WHO DO YOU LISTEN TO WHEN YOU’RE DRAWING? I like a lot of stuff; country, jazz, rockabilly, garage, whatever. Earl Hines, Bill Doggett, Dave “Baby” Cortez, Eddie Cochran, Don Gibson, Johnny Horton, Charlie Feathers, Mickey Baker, Link Wray, Them, the Kinks, Nuggets stuff. Current stuff would be Deke Dickerson, Joel Paterson, Carl Sonny Leyland, Neko Case, The Sadies, Bloodshot Bill, Maximum Wage, KK&BBQ, KK & The Shrines.

I really don’t get out that often, so I am so not with it when it comes to newer music. It may come as a shock to your readers that I am pretty square.

WELL WHEN I FIRST SAW THE SUPREME GENIUS POSTER I THOUGHT IT REALLY LOOKED LIKE AN OLD LOBBY CARD. For the Supreme Genius art, the intent was to make it in the style of those crazy hand-painted Pakistani movie posters.

They’re really incredible. They’re all hand-painted on whatever the artist can find: canvas, paper, burlap from rice bags, whatever. I had some space constraints at the time, so I couldn’t

paint it that big. The original measures around 11”x14”.

WHAT KINDA POSTER ART INFLUENCES YOUR ILLUSTRATIONS? I really love the old movie posters, it’s a shame they don’t make them like that anymore. Obviously, I’m drawn to Horror and Sci-Fi genres. I always like to see hand-done type treatment, too.

YOU POSTED A LINK TO CHUCK CLOSE ON YOUR FB ONCE. WHAT OTHER ARTISTS DO YOU LIKE?

Yeah, I was wondering if they’d say something, but they never did.

HOW’D YOU GET INVOLVED IN THAT SHOW? I did a small print for the Crazy 4 Cult show last year and was asked back for the He-Man show.

WILL WE BE SEEING AN X-RATED COSMO SKELETOR DOLL ANY TIME SOON? I’m sure someone somewhere has an x-rated skeletor doll, but I had nothing to do with it.

Gerhard Richter, Tom Sachs, Margaret Kilgallen, Barry McGee, Stephen Powers, Manuel Ocampo, Kerry James Marshall, Jack Kirby, Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, Norman Saunders, James Bama, Basil Gogos, the classic Mad Magazine roster. I just saw Tim Biskup’s new work and was really wowed by it.

HAVE YOU SHOWN YOUR WORK IN ANY OTHER GALLERY SHOWS?

I WAS SORTA SURPRISED TO READ THAT THE UNDER THE INFLUENCE: HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE ART SHOW (AT GALLERY 1988 IN LA) WAS SPONSORED BY MATTEL! WHAT DID THE POWERS THAT BE THINK OF YOUR SKELETOR AS BURT REYNOLDS PAINTING?

OKAY SO YOU LIKE ’50s B-MOVIES, ‘80s TOYS, AND MONSTERS OF COURSE… WHAT OTHER THINGS ARE YOU INTO?

Not really, like I said before, I didn’t really have an audience, nor did I know anybody. That’s slowly been changing for me over the past couple of years.

I like playing guitar and writing stupid songs, Crossword puzzles, Daily Jumble, and Antiques Roadshow. Squares-ville to the max.

I LOVE ANTIQUES ROADSHOW! DO YOU COLLECT AS WELL? I WAS READING DIRTY DONNY’S BLOG A WHILE BACK AND HE WROTE ABOUT COMING ACROSS SOME WEIRD-OH BASEBALL CARDS, AND HOW BEING A KID IT WAS SUCH A BUMMER THAT YOU’D ONLY BE ABLE TO BUY ONE PACK OF GUM, BUT NOW THAT HE’S AN ADULT BE BOUGHT TWO FUCKING BOXES! I FIND I’M WAY MORE INTERESTED IN BUYING SHIT LIKE THAT NOW THAN WHEN I WAS A KID. For real. Save for the rubber gorilla here and there, I don’t do too much collecting.

I guess books, but that’s mostly for reference and inspiration. Though I do love going to flea markets with my wife.

YOU’VE LINKED TO monsterbrains. blogspot.com and blogofthecreature. blogspot.com ON YOUR FB. I REALLY LIKE magiccarpetburn. blogspot.com FOR ALL MY ONLINE MONSTER NEEDS! WHERE ELSE SHOULD I GO? Wow, that’s a good one! I just found this today: mrpottersfuntimeblog. blogspot.com. There’s a great music blog for old out of print vinyl-burns:

unclegil.blogspot.com YOUR GLOW-IN-THE-DARK TROUBLE IN MIND/SXSW SHOWCASE POSTER WITH ALL THE OLD KITSCH TOY IMAGES WAS RAD! THAT MUSTA BEEN FUN TO MAKE. I CAN SPOT A MY LITTLE PONY HOMAGE IN THERE AND SOME OTHERS LOOK FAMILIAR BUT I CAN’T PLACE THEM...

Thanks! My Little Pony was the most obvious nod, but they’re all original (except for the “Gator” graphic background). I like the idea of making something new and special to the bands on the poster rather than rehashing some found icon or logo. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, I just know that I would rather do something original. I love it when someone sees something of mine and think it’s from some other time or place. It kind of gives it a validity, like it really belongs here.

I REALLY DIG YER WEREWOLF DRAWINGS! I HAVEN’T SEEN THE NEW WOLFMAN MOVIE YET. IF ANYONE COULD LIVE UP TO LON CHANEY JR THOUGH IT JUST MIGHT BE BENICIO DEL TORO. Thanks! I don’t know what it is about the werewolf, but I have always been drawn to it. I love all those old movies, nothing much happens in them but the mood was always so spooky. I have yet to see the new Wolfman, and bad reviews be damned -- it’s a Wolfman movie for cryin out loud!

YUP! THANKS! http://johnnysampson.com

WENDY

NORTON!

An interview with a zine lady who likes to get fucked up and play guitar by Janelle Hollyrock WENDY NORTON has been in the Milwaukee scene for ages running Kryptonite Records with Roy Oden (The Milky Ways) and playing in too many bands to list (okay, a few: The Reacharounds, The Monitors, The Lookers, Plastic Pets).

Most recently she plays guitar and sings in PLEXI 3 with her husband Ryan King (Kill-A-Watt, The Monitors, Plastic Pets) at the drums and Adam

Widener (The Jet Set, Mechanics of Romance) on bass, and in THE FLIPS with a sextet of fab rock n rollers with a ‘60s girl group sound and look. Of coursezzhh she makes zines too…

JANELLE: TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CURRENT BANDS, PLEXI 3 AND THE FLIPS. WENDY: Plexi 3 just recorded 6 songs (3 for UFO Dictator outta Kalamazoo) and 3 more that I’m gonna shop around for a single. Flips are supposed to record soon but things move pretty PHOTO BY ANDY JUNK slow with that band because all the other babes have different projects they’re doing too.

ANY OTHERS? Got a new band that has about 11 songs together that is recording next month. We don’t have a name yet but it’s really fun time, boogie woogie, glam stuff!

THE FLIPS ARE MY DREAM BAND! HOW DID THAT BAND FORM? I have been trying to start a girl band throughout the years. It’s

been a hard time, but the stars were finally aligned and there were enough babes in town that owned their own instruments at the same time, and that were willing to put the time in to make it a real band. Natalie Clark of The Tears and I decided to collaborate on the songwriting duties -- so we both threw together some demos and I recorded ‘em right away.

DO YOU PLAY MANY SHOWS? We only play every other month or so because all those chicks are so busy with jobs, school, or their other bands. But when we do play it’s always a total fucking blast. We played on a boat last summer!

WHY DID FRANCOISE LEAVE PLEXI 3?

PHOTO BY MEGAN REIRDON

Fran couldn’t handle the stress of touring so we decided unanimously that it was better if we parted ways, because Plexi 3 wants to tour a lot.

YOU’RE PLAYING WITH HER AGAIN IN THE FLIPS? I begged her to join Flips because she is fun to be in a band with, just not that fun to be in a van with!!

Flips will never tour so it solves the problem.

HOW DID YOU HOOK UP WITH ADAM? He went on tour with Plexi 3 for our first big tour as our merch dude. After I realized what an easygoing guy he was (he left for a month long tour with only a bag of quarters left over from doing laundry and one change of clothes) it just seemed like a natural fit. He needed a band and we needed a bass player that could do all those harmony parts.

WHAT OTHER BANDS HAS HE BEEN IN? Adam was in the Jet Set and Mechanics of Romance.

PLEXI 3 IS OBVIOUSLY A BIG MONKEES FAN. WHO’S YOUR FAVOURITE MONKEE? I’m a Dolenz girl. Even when I was a little. I met him a few summers ago and he called me darlin’. Sigh...

THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD BANDS COMIN’ OUTTA MILWAUKEE LATELY! All the cool kids live here and they try to top each other’s awesomeness -- so it makes for a really good scene! I wanna give a shout out right now to The Sugar Stems, Sticks’n’ Stones, Cry Coyote, Drugs Dragons, and the Zygoteens!

HOW LONG DID YOU RUN KRYPTONITE RECORDS WITH ROY ODEN? (WHO WAS IN THE FANTASTIC MILKY WAYS!) WAS IT EVENTUALLY MELDED WITH CERTIFIED PR?

RS THE MONITO

Roy ran Kryptonite out of his parent’s house before I came along. He was making mainly records of his friend’s bands. Then we both moved to Milwaukee and I decided to take on a lot of it (running the website, distro, advertising). We decided to branch out and do some different kinds of sounds… like the King Louie LP, Kill-a-Watts 7”, Catholic Boys, and a few other things. We did about 10 records all together. Then shit got really weird after we broke up. Roy and I were both done with it -- but a bunch of scavengers tried to take it over without really asking either of us. Eventually I gave all the back stock to Steve from Certified PR because him and his awesome new wife, Kimmy, really have their shit together with their label/ distro and I figured he could get rid of it. Nothing like Roy and I. Sometimes we would take a month to fill an order!!

WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING IN A BAND WITH YOUR HUSBAND? I REALLY DIG DOING THE ZINE WITH BOB, I FEEL MORE CREATIVE HAVING SOMEONE I LIVE WITH BRING ME WEIRD AND CRAZY IDEAS AND INSPIRATION EVERY DAY! We did Monitors together but that got old because it was so theatrical... Putting on the helmet and tights and lugging around all the lighting and shit... We had another band called The International Language that never really went anywhere, and another band called Roman Fingers that played one show. We also had a punk rock band called The Plastic Pets that was around for a few years…

FLIPS POSTER BY WENDY

It’s cool because we can practice whenever and bounce ideas off of each other at any given time. He has also taught me a lot about recording. But sometimes we get cranky and snap at each other (like all married couples do) and it will freak the other band members out. Finding time & place to get it on while you’re on tour can be kinda hard too.

Flips is cool because that band is all mine, so I get all the say-so for the recordings and so on.

WHAT ZINES DO YOU REMEMBER READING THAT GOT YOU INTO MAKING THEM? FOR ME, IT WAS A ZINE CALLED ...IN THE MEANTIME BY CAROL NISHITOBA OUTTA MISSISSAUGA, ON WHO WAS OBSESSED WITH MURDERECORDS, ERIC’S TRIP, ETC. (THIS WAS THE ‘90S OBVIOUSLY) IT OPENED UP A WHOLE NEW WORLD TO ME SINCE I GREW UP IN A SMALL ALBERTA TOWN THAT ONLY HAD ONE RECORD STORE (THAT EXCLUSIVELY STOCKED GARTH BROOKS AND TRISHA YEARWOOD).

Hmm. When I first started I remember reading MRR and thinking -- “Someone should do something like this but make it way cooler. What a wasted medium.” Remember: I am a total hayseed so I didn’t have as

much stuff around, no record stores, nothing. People around these parts were pretty pop punk back then, so you would see the odd pop punk fanzine by and by.

Finally, through the Bomp! mailing list I find out about a guy who did a little zine called Noises From The Garage, that focused more on rock and roll. After that I was like, “Shit I can do this shit. I’ll make it like this but less preachy and more funny.” The first few zines I did are total garbage but I finally got my method down once I bought a printer and lived in a town that had a Kinkos!

Then I found out about Pure Filth, Ugly Things, Girlyhead, Back Door Man, and Horizontal Action (which was just starting up at the time) and realized how lame mine was and tried to make it cooler from there.

So you made REALRocknroll, What We Do Is Secret, Search & Annoy... any others? Do you still have copies of any of them kicking around? Any highlights, memorable interviews, articles, etc to share?

I always felt like getting the Sonny Vincent interview was something to be proud of. (REALRocknroll) But then I found out that Horizontal Action interviewed him, too (but I was first!). The Jill Kossoris (The Shivvers) interview was cool because I am a total girl band geek, and she’s from Milwaukee too. (Search & Annoy) I don’t keep them in print because it’s too expensive and people don’t want to pay you for shit. I will make a few here and there, and then when bands stay over I’ll give them away.

YOU’RE DOING ANOTHER ISSUE OF SEARCH & ANNOY WITH MATT FROM SPIN THE BOTTLE RECORDS? Yep -- Eventually! Matt is a really funny and creative guy so it should be the best yet.

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH BRAIN LAPSE FANZINE? IS THERE A SECOND ISSUE COMING OUT? The hotties from Minnesota do that magazine (previously called Rock Mania) and I guess they just asked me to write because they knew I would! Being a zine lady and all... I am pretty sure they aren’t doing another issue but they should.

I READ SOMEWHERE THAT YOU SEW! AND DRAW! ANY OTHER SECRET TALENTS? Well, I do collect records, like to drink and get fucked up and play guitar, make little solo project recordings -- I also enjoy houseplants, cooking, sewing, taking vitamins, drinking milk, going for walks, and other feminine pleasures. www.myspace.com/wendylnorton www.myspace.com/279503049 (The Flips)

www.myspace.com/plexi3 www. myspace. com/searchandannoy

INTERVIEW

BY ASHLEY DESJARDIN E

EAU L GALIP

BY PAU PHOTO

Ashley: All of you have a pretty rich history in the Ottawa scene and beyond, playing in a bunch of different bands. How’d the White Wires’ sound come about?

Ian: It was an accident that we sounded like this. We ate too much bubblegum and we had a lot of fun and then we jammed and it just happened. Chewing bubblegum to the rhythm and then the songs were just born out of that.

It originally started out as something different than what it sounds like right now cause I didn’t really know how to play guitar, even less than I know how to play it now, so it’s interesting. It’s bubblegum.

Ashley: And you play together in other side projects, as well? PEACH KELLI POP comes to mind…

Allie: I really like to write songs, so I got some friends to back me up. I got Ian on drums. Yeah, Ian’s actually a great drummer. And I got my twin sister to play the keyboards for me and do backup vocals and it’s good because I can boss her around because she’s my sister. So it works really well. And then my friend Davey who’s in a million bands in Ottawa because he’s sort of like a session bassist. I can just show him a bass line once, and he has it down, so it was really easy and it’s just sort of for fun.

But now, Ian’s label, Going Gaga, is kindly putting out an LP for me as soon as I’m finished. I’m about three quarters done the songs, but I’m really picky so we’ll see when it comes out.

Ian: PEACH KELLI POP also has a video that they recorded that’s going to be released in about three weeks. We’re going to have a big party in Ottawa. And we’re going to play the video and then the band’s going to play after. It’s going to be great.

Luke: We’re going to roll Allie out on a dolly and she’s just wave at the crowd in the background.

Allie: I’ll just make an appearance.

Luke: You’ll throw some stuff at people. Confetti or something.

Allie: I am obsessed with girl

bands (especially ones where girls make up 100% of the band) so I found some girls in Ottawa to form THE FELINES. I played drums and wrote some of the songs in that band. Ilona, the guitarist, currently plays in THE SUPPOSITORIES (also on Going Gaga records). I played in an all-girl Misfits cover band called THE MISCLITS. That was so fun! It was formed with other Ottawa female musicians like Erin Ewing (bassist and vocalist of the VISITORS), Sarah Ford (Keyboardist of ZEBRASSIERS, among ers), and Morgan Cook (FELINES).

oth-

I also did a one-off Hallowe’en show with NOBUNNY in San Francisco and Oakland, where I had the honour of acting as Poison Ivy. It was a tribute to Lux Interior, RIP. Poison Ivy is one of my idols; I wish I could be as badass as her!

Ashley: I do too, Allie. I really do. Ian, you’re a busy, busy man. A record label called Going Gaga, and more bands as well?

Ian: I play drums in Allie’s backup band PEACH KELLI POP, that’s a LOT of fun to play. No frills, no fills, just straight 16’s, robotic, but with that extra human element! Makes me really happy to be part of the rhythm! For the past 3 years I’ve also played the organ, and sang a bit in the SEDATIVES. We were trying to change it up a bit, throw a different sound on the table. Pretty and mean, kinda ‘77, kinda ‘80s, punk, dark, gothic... with the organ it was a really interesting mix.

Ashley: And you were in Calgary for a while...

Ian: From 2000 until 2007 I lived in Calgary. Great things happened there. I played drums in the CRYPTOMANIACS, and sang a little too.

We self released a 7”. We

had actually recorded for an LP, but didn’t have the IAN PHO money and patience, so we picked our 4 faves TO BY A NDREW CARVE and did a 7”. This band had a unique sound... while we worR shipped the Cramps, we were also big into the Lost Sounds, and basically all of the music we were discovering at the time... so we had a pretty all over the place kinda thing goin on, like one minute we’re freaking out over the Demon’s Claws, and next thing it’s the Final Solutions. At first we sounded like nerds playing rockabilly too fast without the anchoring parts of good rockabilly, but with great reverby vocals, and too much teenage angst. Then we found an organ player, settled into our own thing, and came out of the wash. The band broke up when I moved, but those guys are killing it WAY harder now. They went on to start many of my favourite bands in the history of town like THEE THEMS, THE FUNFUNS, THE ZEBRASSIERS, THE BEACH BLANKETS, THE TENSION SLIPS, THE MAGIC MONGOLOIDS, THE SUBLINGUALS, and more. Okay, so that was the CRYPTOMANIACS. At the same time, I was playing bass and singing a couple of the songs in the SUICIDE WRISTS. Fuckin mean band! We were a 3 piece, worshipping stuff like Vom, the Weirdos, the Randoms. We skated together, partied together, did DJ nights, drank all your beer, rocked, pissed on your sister, kicked your dog in the balls... ha. Actually one of the first bands that broke me away from the standard stuff I listened to was the Spits when Tiemen brought them to town in 2001! They were on tour with one of the Rocket bands, and Tiemen got them to do an after party late night show at our local haunt. Blew my mind! In terms of having an influence on current Canadian bands, and stuff over the past 15-20 years, Tieman is VERY significant. He wrote 99% of the SUICIDE WRISTS songs. Great songs. This was the work of mastermind T.Depression. We recorded 3 times, and were never really happy with it, nothing got released. Tiemen and I moved from Calgary at the same time... he went west to Victoria and now he’s the fat cat in town! He’s doin’ Talk’s Cheap, THE NEW KRIME, Random Distribution, a crazy wicked festival in Victoria this summer, and is constantly booking shows for touring bands.

Ashley: Well, speaking of festivals, you guys played Gonerfest last fall. I bet you’ve got stories.

Allie: It was really like nothing we’ve ever done before. For me, it was a little intimidating because I was playing in front of so many people that I respect musically and otherwise, so it was a bit scary, but I was really happy that we got to play and it was really fun for us.

Ian: Gonerfest is the best. It was like 30 bands, every band

killed it, it was so much fun. Huge parties, tons of people, those guys do it right. They almost L E U N A invented that punk festival format that’s starting to hapY EMM HOTO B LUKE P pen in different places now. They do it so well, so many great bands play there, and then so many people that are just so eager to be there. People fly in from Europe and Japan and from Canada and you know.

Luke: I experienced some delicious hush puppies in Memphis. They were very crunchy. There were doughnuts that were very delicious. Also, I was buying some doughnuts one morning, and this man came in. he had like the greasier Jheri curl, and was wearing a pink suit. And the biggest gold rings on anyone I’ve ever seen in real life. And pink alligator skin shoes. It was totally mind blowing. It made me think about a lot of things. It made me think about sex and how much it costs to have sex with one of his whores.

Ashley: Hahaha... and up next, you’re playing SXSW… so soon!

Allie: We are super excited. It’s sort of like Gonerfest in that it’s a super crazy party. I think we’re playing four or five shows. None of them are official SXSW shows, so again, they’re more party shows at record stores and houses and stuff, so it’s right up our alley.

And we’re playing with lots of bands that we really love which is awesome.

Luke: We’re getting paid in tacos. I’m hoping, anyways. I also like Frito pie and pulled pork sandwiches.

Ian: What about Spanish doughnuts?

Luke: Yes. Churros.

Ashley: Okay on a more serious note, in London, ON there’s been a bit of an issue with venues and just finding places for bands to play. What are you experiences with that in Ottawa? I’m curious... how do you guys make it work?

Luke: There are lots of cool bands in our city but venues are few and far between so we just throw parties at legions and in basements, when a bar will let us do a show there. That’s pretty much it. You just make it happen; whatever will work.

Allie: We love bring your own beer parties and so making do what we have in Ottawa works out in our favour usually, because we can bring our own beer and party however we want to with no boundaries at all.

ALLIE P HOTO B Y PIERR E RICHA RDSON

Ian: We invite our friends’ bands to come play and we book shows, set bands up, throw parties, it’s probably a very similar city to London. This only my second time coming to London so I don’t know it that well, but it’s not like there’s a huge scene if you will where there’s all these venues aching to have bands play. Luke books a lot of shows and we all play in a couple bands. Between everybody we’ve got a couple DJ nights, probably five or six bands, we all book shows and invite friends’ bands. People try and make things happen. It’s a pretty quiet place, really. There are a lot of people that want to do stuff and so when stuff does happen in Ottawa it’s pretty good. There are a lot of good bands there.

Luke: For years, there’s been a pretty good house party scene in Ottawa. And there’s almost always at least one house that’ll put on shows that couldn’t happen anywhere else. And that’s a pretty huge deal.

We’ve got a couple of bars that are like this that do a little bit of everything and we’ll occasionally do shows at those places. But it’s been more fun to do shows that are just kind of in a weird place, you know; people have more fun. Basement shows and legion shows and park shows.

Allie: It’s great when fans of all ages can come. It’s really special and important, as someone who’s been going to shows since I was like 14. So it’s really awesome to have house shows.

Ian: We’ve got the pizza party in Ottawa too and it’s a weekly DJ night. Luke does it. Every week it’s free band, pretty pizza, free party, free DJs, it’s a party every week. And touring bands come and local bands play. It’s like an institution in Ottawa. It’s been happening every Thursday for like three, going on four, years now.

Ashley: I have heard of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Pizza Party. It’s the greatest concept. Lastly, I want to say congrats. Putting a record out on Dirtnap?!? That’s huge!!! I imagine you’re pretty excited about that...

Ian: Very excited and sweaty. I’m very, very excited. That’s insane. We’ve had so much good fortune come our way with Douchemaster, Gonerfest, and all these people asking us to come play. You guys in London asking us to come play a show. And Toronto and Montréal. And now Dirtnap wants to put out a record. And we’re going to go tour in Europe with The Mean Jeans, another Dirtnap band, and it’s too much. It’s amazing. It’s blowing my mind. We’re really excited. We’re almost done the record; it should be done in probably a month and it’s going to be great. Dirtnap is the shit and they put out The Exploding Hearts, The Marked Men, you know, it’s epic. It’s a huge deal to us, so we’re excited.

Ashley: Well, you guys deserve it all. Thanks so much! www.myspace.com/theewhitewires

Poster by Bob Scott

KING KHAN & THE SHRINES AND THE FRESH & ONLYS, April 12th at Venue, Vancouver BC Drawings by Drea Baeza

e h T

BEAT

Midw est INTERVIEW BY JANELLE HOLLYROCK

Check out THE MIDWEST BEAT... a shaggy haired garagE pop band outta Wisconsin that I have really been digging lately.

JANELLE: So easy one to start: Who’s in the band and how did you all meet & form the Midwest Beat?

bands we’ve been in include: The Gut Reactions, The Grizzlies, The Daisy Bangs, The Honey Slides.

CHRIS: The Midwest Beat’s original lineup was Logan Kayne (bass), Matt Joyce (guitar), Christopher Capelle (drums) and Ryan Adams (guitar). We all lived and met in Madison, Wisconsin and started playing music in September of 2005 and played our first show the next month.

Less than a year later the band broke up and took a hiatus for one year. When we got back together we started writing and recording songs for the “At the Gates” album -- shortly after that Andrew Harris joined the band and played electric organ.

In the Spring of 2009 Andrew and Ryan left the band to tour and play with The Goodnight Loving. We played a few shows as a trio before adding Kyle Denton to play 2nd guitar.

Kyle’s been in a lot of cool Milwaukee bands including The Elephant Walk, The International Date Lines, and Rocktopus so he was a great fit with The Midwest Beat. Other

JANELLE: I love the band’s name!

CHRIS: I came up with that name and everyone hated it but couldn’t come up with anything better so I just started putting it on posters for shows and it stuck.

JANELLE: How’d you come up with it?

CHRIS: I wanted something that would immediately clue you in as to where we are from. I love it -- I think it works well with the kind of sound we make. It’s been almost 5 years now so I think we’ll keep it.

JANELLE: The Midwest Beat performed as CCR for Halloween last year! That’s so perfect! How was that show?

KYLE: A great Milwaukee tradition on Halloween is for

bands to do a cover set. Some bands form just to do this, and some just postpone regular practice for the cover sets. We did CCR 2 years ago in Milwaukee and played with “The Who,” and last year we did it again for our other indigenous city, Madison, with “Alice Cooper” (basically the Ex-Catholic Boys). Any bands that do these put so much work into one night, so the Halloween cover shows are awesome. We always see folks coming out who aren’t necessarily fans of the Beat, per say, but just love to hear CCR. JANELLE: Who are some other band influences besides CCR?

PHOTOS COURTESY MIDWEST BEAT

KYLE: We’ve also covered songs by The Turtles, Neil Young, Flying Burrito Bros, The Byrds, Coasters, Stones, and our favorite, the Beach Boys.

JANELLE: Tell me about the Gates of Heaven synagogue where you recorded At the Gates. Had it been used for recording before?

LOGAN: The Gates of Heaven is the 3rd oldest Synagogue still standing in America. It’s in the middle of this park by

one of the lakes in downtown Madison.

The city owns it now and rents it out, mostly for weddings and such. It was Kyle Motor’s idea to record there. (He also recorded our Dusty Medical 2x7”.)

Basically, an old band of his rented it for a show years ago and he was amazed by the natural reverb, and he wasn’t joking, snare drums sounded like shotgun blasts in there.

Not sure if anyone had used it before, but now it’s been booked by a few people for recording.

JANELLE: That’s cool! Did recording there influence the

album, you think?

LOGAN: As far as it influencing the album, I’d say it had A LOT to do with the way the album turned out. We played live in the main room, allowing everything to kinda leak together, trying to kinda get a Phil Spector thing going on.

Plus Kyle is an analog purist so we used his old 8 track reel-to-reel and lots of vintage compressors. It pretty much meant that each song had to be bounced down before we could carry on and do overdubs/vocals. (Did I mention that we did this in 3 days?)

Tracking vocals in there was pretty amazing, at times we had up to 6 people gathered around a few microphones singing harmonies. Because of the primitive nature of the recording equipment that is the only way we could squeeze all of stuff we wanted onto 8 tracks.

JANELLE: So there’s still a lotta cassettes being released, I find. Cassettegods.blogspot. com reviews tons of them, for example! Why did you guys put out two releases on a tape format? Is it easier to record and put out yourself?

CHRIS: We released 2 songs on tape: “Sister Mary Katherine” and “Belladonna” -- both were recorded very lo-fi at my house.

JANELLE: I’ve been told it’s a bitch to dupe cassettes one tape at a time.

KYLE: Duplicating cassettes

is not so difficult if you have high speed dubbing -- then it’s only half a bitch. But it’s a cheap and easy way to release one song per side with another band. The 2 times we made cassingles, Chopper Records 001, and 002) we did them with bands we went on mini tours with in the Midwest: The Cave Weddings and Eric & the Happy Thoughts. Both times we tried a lo-fi format that we recorded at Chris’s house, and they turned out great for what we were trying to do... that is, a cheap and easy release that can be made in 2 weeks.

LOGAN: Especially with “Sister Mary Katherine” it allowed us to experiment more than we could have if we were in the studio trying to fight the clock.

JANELLE: Your double 7” on Dusty Medical is cool, you don’t see them much! Why go with 2x7s instead of, say, a 12” or something?

CHRIS: I think the 2x7” format was

suggested by Kevin Meyer (Dusty Medical Records).

We thought it would be neat to do something different.

The only downside is it makes for a lot of record flipping while listening!

JANELLE: Yeh, no kidding!

I don’t have your CD, is it the same songs as on the 2x7”?

CHRIS: The CD version is exactly the same songs but in a different sequence. We self-released the CD EP in 2006.

JANELLE: How did you hook up with Dusty Medical?

CHRIS: I met Kevin when I moved to Milwaukee in 2007. He sets up a lot of shows in this town and releases records by a lot of the good local bands so it’s hard NOT to run into him if you like good music! We approached him about releasing something and he had a copy of the CD EP, which he really liked and offered to release it on vinyl.

JANELLE: Usually it’s the singles that come out first, then the full length. But you actually released At the Gates a few months before the Bring the Water 7” (with “Bring the Water” and “Molly Molly” from the CD on it). Was there a delay in releasing Bring the Water?

Or did you always plan on releasing it after the CD?

CHRIS: Releasing the record on CD never occurred to us -- we always wanted it to be an LP. But it took a long time to mix (8 track analog!) and we didn’t find anyone right away to put it on vinyl and were tired of waiting to get the songs out to people so we went with our good friends at Duck on Monkey Records (www.myspace.com/duckonmonkeyrecords). The “Bring the Water” single came about because some friends of ours in Milwaukee were starting a label and wanted us to be the 1st release on Tax Return Records (http://www.myspace. com/taxreturnrecords). So we gave them “Bring the Water” “Molly Molly” and a then-unreleased track “Not to Worry”.

JANELLE: Any plans to put out At the Gates on vinyl?

CHRIS: Yes! Ultimately, we would have liked for the CD and LP versions to come out simultaneously but that didn’t happen. The record

yourselves?

STERS LLE PO HAPPE LUKE C

will finally be released on vinyl by Dusty Medical Records (www.dustymedical.com) this Spring! I don’t think these songs have been heard by most people that bought the 2x7” and we’d like to reconcile that. Plus, we’re adding 2 songs from the same session that didn’t make it onto the vinyl and re-doing all the artwork!

KYLE: That was all Tax Return’s idea. These 2 good friends of ours, Mickey and Milies, they also run The Vault basement venue in Milwaukee.

Those guys set up a little screen printer in their bedroom. When they told us the records were in, we went over to their house.

There was Milles with paint all over his hands and clothes and on his bed were about 20 covers drying out at a time. become weird. It seems a lot of them are dark and aquatic life forms, so his art just seemed to fit right in. I’ll see his flyers around town and just stop and look in the window of the coffee shop and stare at fliers like they are hanging on a museum wall.

JANELLE: I love the cut-out screenprint on the Bring the Water 7” (Tax Return Records). What’s Luke Chappelle’s story?

CHRIS: Luke (www.myspace. com/lmfchappelle) is also in the Milwaukee band Drugs Dragons and does most of the flyer artwork the Get Drunk DJ shows (www.myspace.com/thegetdrunk).

KYLE: Luke is awesome! He has been doing some of the coolest flyers for the coolest shows that come to Milwaukee. They usually feature some sort of weird creature, or a regular creature that has

JANELLE: Ingenious use of old file folders too! Having to fold and staple hundreds of zines I can imagine how much work it was to put those Bring the Water 7s together. Did you all do it

JANELLE: And Leah Kavanaugh did the art for the Dusty 7”. Any connection to Andy Kavanaugh of Goodnight Loving?

KYLE: Leah is Andy’s loving wife. She is a great artist too.

She does some amazing paper mache!

CHRIS: Leah’s artwork is great! She also did the cover for the Greg Cartwright “Live at Circle A” LP. JANELLE: I seem to be asking a lotta artwork questions here, but you really seem to put a lotta thought into your record packaging.

CHRIS: I do most of the artwork/design stuff for the releases as well as most flyers, handbills, online stuff, whatever. Leah K designed the 2x7” and Luke Chappelle did

the “Bring the Water” single but other than I designed “At the Gates”, the cassette singles and Ryan and I did the art for the CD EP. JANELLE: Do you think about how the final release will look while recording?

CHRIS: I never think about how it will look while recording but it’s usually pretty apparent once we get all the songs done. For instance, all of the songs for “At the Gates”

were done in a big, reverb-y synagogue in the middle of winter -- so the CD artwork came out looking dark and cold. However, the LP is gonna change things up a bit and the new artwork is much sunnier and includes photos by our good friend (and exCave Wedding) Erin Dorbin!

they will be playing any more shows. The record actually features bass and back up vox from the Midwest Beat. The other member of that band, Erin Dorbin has recently relocated to Milwaukee and just started working on a project with our very own Chris Capelle. So look out for that.

For the cassette releases I try to make them as fun as possible ‘cause cassettes are a weird medium and anybody that’s gonna buy one is probably looking at it as just a novelty kind of thing anyway.

So, for the Cave Weddings split tape I made the artwork look like an old Silvertone hand held radio with an input headphone jack on the side.

CHRIS: Yep, the Cave Weddings have parted ways -Eric’s back in Indiana doing Eric & the Happy Thoughts and The Perennials. Erin is in Milwaukee now and we’re working on starting a new project together. The drummer, Nathan, is back in Troy, NY with his family. The new Cave Weddings single on Bachelor features members of the Midwest Beat and is available now!

JANELLE: Speaking of The Cave Weddings… are they still together? Their Myspace is MIA. KYLE: The Cave Weddings have a brand new 7 inch released on Bachelor Records, though I don’t think

JANELLE: Midwest Beat, Elephant Walk, the Goodnight Loving… There must be something in the water down there ‘cause there’s a lotta great garage-pop coming outta Wisconsin. What other bands should I check out?

KYLE: Well, we’ve all shared members of these bands from time to time. I think some great upcoming bands are: Bored Games, Jaill, Honey Slides, The Hussy.

LOGAN: The Suger Stems and Sticks and Stones are both great too, x- Catholic Boys/ Tuff Banannas etc. Plexi-3, Trent Fox and the Tenants, The Zygoteens, Chris also plays guitar in Gut Reactions, I dig ‘em a lot. Not to mention the mysterious and illusive Rocktopus.

it comes to shows. There’s no real scene for music and only a handful of bands that are really doing anything interesting (The Hussy, The Hemlines, Honey Slides, Bob Koch, etc). So you have to have the right venue on the right night with the right mix of bands to get a good turnout/response. It takes more planning to have a successful show in Madison but it can be done!

KYLE: Milwaukee represent!

Just sayin...

CHRIS: Yep, lots of great, great bands in Milwaukee right now: TRUTHDEALER, The Hussy, Dinosaur Pills, Bored Games, Sticks N Stones, The Zygoteens, Tim Schweiger, Sugar Stems, Drugs Dragons, Holy Shit!, Head on Electric JANELLE: From afar, it seems like there’s a real cool scene happening in WI but you’ve mentioned in other interviews that shows in Madison – where you’re based – are a drag. There just not enough people at the shows?

CHRIS: Midwest Beat is actually split between Madison and Milwaukee -- 2 of us live in each city.

Madison is a great city to live in but it’s very hit or miss when

MATT: Logan and I grew up in and around Madison and, aside from a brief period in the early 00’s, the music coming out of here has been decidedly shitty. There’s a lot of crappy MTV pop punk bands and hippy jam bands which makes for a poop storm of suck. Also, Madison isn’t as big as it sometimes thinks it is, so to have 3 or 4 decent bands existing there at one time isn’t that bad for the overall size of the population; it just sucks to set up good shows for touring bands that want to play in Madison and then only have 20 to 30 people come out.

JANELLE: What’re you working on now? Any plans to tour?

Midwest Beat 2 x 7” (Dusty Medical, DMR12 2008) At The Gates CD (Duck on Monkey, DOM03 2009) Bring the Water 7” (Tax Return Records, TR01 2009) Split w/ Cave Weddings cass (2009) Belladonna Split w/ Eric & The Happy Thoughts cass (2010) Sister Mary Katherine

CHRIS: The “At the Gates” LP is being released on Dusty Medical Records this Spring. We’ve also got a batch of new songs that we just recorded with Justin Perkins in Milwaukee. Those will hopefully be on a future LP -- probably not due out until later this year or next Spring. Plus, we’ll be hitting the road for a week on our first East coast tour out to New York!

JANELLE: Thank you!! www.myspace.com/ themidwestbeat

Sonic Avenues are a powerpop band in the late ‘70s tradiDefinitely a must see tion of The Plimsouls, The Records, band if they ever come The Beat, The Kids, to your town. Plus they come from Montreal and just about any band that can (Bob seems to love cool interweave 2 Rick- Montreal bands!) AND they’re on Canada’s enbacker guitars through Vox amps coolest vinyl only label, and throw in catchy Going Gaga Records.

Yep, indeed the Sonic background vocals… and make it Avenues have a lot sound SOOOO cool going for them and at the same time! deservedly so.

All the while keeping the energy level at 10 or higher and getting a room full of kids up and dancing like maniacs.

Just so you know who’s who in Sonic Avenues; Maxime Desharnais (vocals/guitar), Jamie Desjardins (bass/vocals), Sebastien Godin (guitar/ vocals) and JC Niquet (drums).

y the en w h w o ues a sh this ven th for view t.

A ic 2 er os Son Mar 1 eir int e Gh idbits w e en th om ft on vi ter , ON s (see Lones lots o s. Wh x n i to ndon ire nd e got thing t Ma got l o r e W s, a is w We e in L Whit ucer reat, of coo vocal corde d tg r / e e e t s r e s h d w hT as et R wen kin tari ape hen wit , Rock view t all r, gui t my t w it w u e t w Shit ) o r u v o u h h e o o s b t b i as da se, t ab and nk! e in Th talke iew w men me) our ly bla rview c f e l v and inter e com ol lik inte h a st o tota n je t was radio t wit I I the de som d scho . s u i l ice hat er, how e, b ma it’s o r vo so lat the s to on om w , i e a h e n n fr (y to t ay or efor up i i oise e a d is a b olled tossed n r e p e p ll w ta her vie t e ta he wa om ribe t ’ve go ervie inter s add ransc t you il int l tape a t na a a gon ent to so wh an em rigin o , h w s e I wit f th pen hap bined ants o com remn r. few embe INTERVIEW BY DAVE O’HALLORAN rem

MZ: Where did the name Sonic Avenues come from?

CD’s except Gruesomology are on Ricochet Sound). I can’t recall exactly how long it was after that JAMIE: Max Desharnais (vocals/ initial meeting that we actually got guitar) used to live in an apartthe first EP recorded and struck ment on St. Denis Street in Mona formal deal up with Raye to treal, which is a fairly main, haprelease it on Ricochet, but that’s pening part of town. Whenever basically what happened. (On he’d record anything on his 4-track the original tape interview, Max in his room, which he was doing a embellished that story by saying lot during the period we were tryhow Raye came up to them right ing to come up with a name, he’d when they finished their set. Raye always be picking up street noise, was covered in sweat as he’d sirens, etc. The idea for the name obviously been dancing his ass was basically born from that. off and having a great time at the show and just had to sign them MZ: When did you start as a band? right there and then! Also the band talked about how well the EP did J: The very first moves towards on Canadian college radio charts, starting what would eventually something that usually doesn’t become Sonic Avenues began happen with an EP.) in late 2005. Max and I (Jamie, bass/vocals) started out, with MZ: On the Ricochet EP, you Seb Godin (guitar/vocals) coming sound heavily into the ‘60s sounds, on board quite early as well. We especially The Kinks. Why did you played around with a few different go from ‘60s garage sounds to ‘70s lineups/personnel until JC Niquet powerpop? (drums) entered the picture in mid2006. With the lineup finalized, J: The transition wasn’t so much we coined the name in the summer a conscious choice as it was a of 2006, and went into the studio/ natural progression based primarstarted playing shows shortly ily on what we found we had thereafter. the most fun playing (i.e. faster, more abrasive). Max mentioned MZ: Now you guys have released in the interview that the newer a 4 song CD on Ricochet Sound stuff was just that: a faster, more (home of The Gruesomes recordabrasive, but still ‘60s influenced ings) from Montreal in 2007. Can sound. Songs like ‘Radiation’ and you tell us about meeting Raye ‘Burn My Mind” on the LP sort of Ricochet? typify the transition period in my opinion: you can still clearly hear J: Raye found us initially. He the ‘60s influences (i.e. fuzz guitar, approached Max after a show at lyrically, etc.), but they’re more L’Escogriffe (in Montreal) one ‘intense’ or dirty than the more night out of the blue, said he was typical ‘60s stuff from our earlier into our stuff, etc. We had a great recordings. That being said, most relationship with Raye right from of the other songs on the LP have the outset, and we were obviously less identifiable ‘60s influences, pretty excited by The Gruesomes and as you said, align more closely association (all of The Gruesomes with powerpop. It shouldn’t

be overlooked that there’s also a healthy dose of punk in there now as well, so it’s tough to even describe it as a ‘switch’ from ‘60s to powerpop so much as a ‘blend’ of a bunch of different stuff, guided pretty much solely based on what songs we liked to play.

has a band called Gerry Alvarez Odyssey) and once at Neutral, a basement place, really nice place but really pingy room and all we could hear was the drums, a wash of the drums.

J: It was a concrete bomb shelter kind of thing.

MZ: We’ve been waiting for you for to come to London for so long, we asked you almost 2 years ago…

J: We’d been trying for literally years to get down there but every time something intervened/ fell through at the last minute, etc. etc. We’ve always had a soft spot for London: in fact the very first time a Sonic Avenues song was played on radio ANYWHERE was actually on CHRW (University Of Western Ontario 94.9 FM, London, ON) back in 2006 by a cool dude named Buck Malibu. So right from the beginning we’ve had great support in London. Oh, and some guy named Whatwave Dave has been pretty swell over the years as well.

-;)…and it took us 2 years to get it back together and we’re happy to finally be here now!!

MZ: Have you played in Toronto before?

MAX: Ya two times, once at the Silver Dollar with Gerry Alvarez (Gruesomes guitarist/singer who

PHOTO BY BOB SCOTT

JC: …and we’re so excited!!

M: It sounded so we liked it.

very garage

MZ: Tonight’s gonna be way different tonight because it’s a real long, long thin room (Moon Over Marin in London ON).

M: Ya, ya we just dropped off our gear and we saw it and it looks like a really cool room. It’s really long and it carries the sound different.

MZ: So you guys are going on a US west coast tour real soon…

M: Ya, we’re actually booking it right now, half of it is booked right now, and the rest we are working on it with other people.

MZ: So you’re actually going to be playing in the States which is really something for a Canadian band.

(On the original tape interview, we talked about Sonic Avenues opening up for powerpop supergroup Magic Christian [Cyril Jordan XFlamin’ Groovies on guitar, Clem Burke X-Blondie on drums, Eddie Munoz X-Plimsouls on bass and Paul Kopf on vocals] and how they got to open for them in Ottawa and Montreal. They talked about partying with the band and how great it was to meet the legends of rock’n’roll and about getting to meet Corrine [Magic Christian’s manager and the namesake of The Barracudas song on Endeavour To Perservere] and how they were using these connections to help them setup the tour. And get this, Corrine told the band they sounded just like The Barracudas!!)

M: Oh ya ya, for sure we’re just figuring out the logistics of it right now. So we’re super stoked up about it and can’t wait.

MZ: So are you coming back up through Canada and touring across

Canada?

M: No, actually we’re not gonna have time to do that because there’s a bunch of things waiting for us on the way home and we just can’t do that at this time.

We are definitely gonna do that sometime in the next year, all the Canadian cities.

J: We are doing a couple of Canadian dates at the end like Vancouver and Victoria at the top of the west coast swing.

MZ: You gotta play Vancouver with The Tranzmitors…

J: That’s exactly it!

M: We’re working on that with Bryce actually, from The Tranzmitors. (June 3rd in Vancouver!)

J: We actually tried to get The Tranzmitors out to Montreal this past November but it didn’t work out.

M: They all have different schedules and it’s hard to coordinate and get the whole band…

MZ: What’s the Montreal crowd reaction like?

J: ’Muted’, or ‘restrained’ are the most fitting words I can think of.

And not just to us, but to anything, particularly anything that’s not weird, experimental, avantguard, etc. I remember going to see Sloan at Sala Rossa a while back, and I was chatting with Patrick from the band afterwards, and he confirmed this appraisal of the Montreal crowd. Though apparently this has developed only relatively recently - possibly coinciding with that phase where Montreal was sort of the indie Mecca of the world in the early/mid 2000’s.

(In the original interview we talked about playing at Wooly Weekend, the big garage festival in Montreal last summer. They were added to the bill as the promoters had seen the band and really liked them.)

MZ: You’ve played with the headliners, The White Wires before…

J: OH YES….

M: We played last week with them, this is like a mini tour with them, like a 2 weekend mini tour. We

played last week in Montreal and Sorrel with The White Wires…

And it was unreal! They are really, really good. I’ve honestly never seen a Montreal crowd unleash like that, usually they are pretty reserved about their feelings when it comes to rock’n’roll and they don’t let loose. But last week it was like crazy, it was crazy, people crowd surfing and dancing everywhere in the place. It was like amazing!!! It was so fun!!

J: It was at a loft show in town, at a totally underground place called Friendship Cove with the White Wires that definitely broke the mould and blew our minds. We’d never seen a Montreal crowd get wild like that, so maybe things are turning a corner, or, at the very least, we’ve found where the people who like to crowd surf hang out, as opposed to Beatnik-style snapping at the end of each song. -;) M: Then after, me and Ian (White Wires singer/guitarist) did a shotgun party, everything we drank it was chugged. I was hurting until

Thursday… I’m still tired from it, but I’m gonna drink tonight so hopefully I’ll feel better. (laughter)

M: And it’s almost all gone….

MZ: WHAT!?!

MZ: How did you get on Going Gaga Records? (the brand new self M: Ya, it’s almost all gone. (lots of titled LP is on Going Gaga) laughter) J: We first got introduced to Ian from Going Gaga and the whole Ottawa scene a couple years back when they contacted us on MySpace about coming down to Ottawa to play a show at the ‘A&A Speedshop’. So we pulled up to the venue, and it turns out to be a normal-looking house on a residential street. We assumed we were lost, but it turned out there was this crazy rock ‘n roll scene in Ottawa, part of which involved these underground shows in basements around town that would be totally, totally packed. So we obviously had a blast partying with Ian, Emmanuel, Kenny, and everyone else from the scene. Our relationship with Ottawa just sort of grew out of that, and many, many subsequent return visits.

(Ottawa has arguably the best rock ‘n roll scene in Canada right now.)

Once we had the LP recorded, Ian asked to hear it, dug it, and offered to put out the vinyl on GG. Simple as that really!

J: Ya, it’s almost all gone, more than two thirds of the first pressing of 300 are gone at this point.

The guys in Japan just can’t get enough of it, I’m serious, we’ve

kings at any level. They set everything up for you, right down to the accommodations, the food. You sort of show up and they whisk you off and you play your shows. It’s wild!

MZ: It’s always been that way, the Europeans appreciate good American and Canadian rock’n’roll and Canadians and Americans don’t, it’s always been that way. (lots of laughter) M: Very few people do….

MZ: What can we expect next on vinyl or CD? J: As soon as that’s (the west coast tour) done, the plan is to get back in studio and punch out a 7”,hopefully for late summer/fall. A second album is definitely on the radar after that, but it’s too early to say when exactly, as there’s also talk of some additional touring later this year – maybe Europe, or the East Coast.

MZ: So what can we expect tonight? A real wild show?

M: Definitely!! We’re warmed up now, with a couple of shows we’ve done the last couple of sent an inordinate number of cop- weeks, so it’ll be fun and we’re super stoked for sure. ies over to Japan.

MZ: And Germany should be another big one…

MZ: Anything you want to add?

PHOTO BY DAVE O’HALLORAN

M: Come check out The White Wires J: We actually have a label in Germany tonight, they are AMAZING! Don’t who’s expressed some interest in doing miss it as they are unreal!

MZ: So this will only be the second a re-pressing as soon as this one’s done.

J: worth the price of admission by or third show since the actual themselves.... record came out.

MZ: That would be amazing to get something out in Europe, The M: This’ll be the third show.

Sedatives have been over there and people love them over there…

J: It’s a relatively recent developwww.sonicavenues.com ment, we got the vinyl in about J: The stories about how they treat mid February. touring bands over there, you’re

“ Bloodied But Unbowed So way back in MZ#4 (Dec ‘08) we chronicles the early years interviewed punk photographer of Vancouver’s punk rock/ Bev Davies. Bev shot for Vancounew wave music scene, ver’s arts & entertainment weekly c.1977-1983. While it is the first, and therefore definitive The Georgia Straight, and was a source for this history, filmcontributor to Slash, Damaged, maker Susanne Tabata paid and tonnes of other fanzines. As attention to the facts, but did Nardwuar the Human Serviette not let the facts get in the told us, “Bev’s photos help docuway of telling an entertaining story. Her long friendment the famous and unknown ship with key participants rock ‘n’ rollers of the 20th century, allowed her unique access and without a doubt, combined to interview subjects, whose with her amazing stories, provide personalities drive this a valuable resource for even the ‘casual’ musicologist.” And when we spoke to Bev she mentioned that Susanne Tabata was working on an upcoming documentary about the Vancouver punk scene.

After waiting almost two years since first hearing about this flick, Susanne’s documentary is finally NDY RAMPAGE TA PHOTO BY RA & SUSANNE TABA finished, with a ART BERGMANN tale. Her history with the website (www. fledgling cable television and thepunkmovie.com) and Facebook video industry - she was an fanpage up so we asked Scott teenage guest interviewer on Beadle, walking punk encyclopedia the ancient late ‘70s tv show and the man in charge of updating NiteDreems hosted by John the doc’s website, what’s happening Tanner and JBShane - gave her a starting point to start with this long overdue document of gathering archival footage Vancouver’s early punk scene. from the period, most of Here’s what he told us about the doc:

which hasn’t been seen in 25+ years.

There are two main version of the film: the first is a tv hour version destined for

broadcast later in the year by the lead broadcaster Knowledge Network in Canada; the second is a featurelength documentary. The festival cut that will screen as a special gala presentation at Vancouver’s DOXA festival on May 13 resembles the feature-length version and will be called Bloodied But Unbowed UNCUT. Bloodied But Unbowed tells the story of the Vancouver scene, from its earliest days with the Furies, Dishrags, and Skulls, and goes on to cover the major protagonists of the period: DOA, the Subhumans, Pointed Sticks, Young Canadians, and Modernettes. The film also surveys the art-punk scene, the political activists, and the independent recordmaking industry (such as it was). The story of the early scene wraps up with the advent of hardcore (a polarizing punk subgenre); the proliferation of narcotics into the punk scene; and finally the arrest of the Vancouver Five urban guerilla group in January 1983.

The website was launched to help promote the film, but also to provide an ongoing historical resource. The website articles are meant to provide background information to the subjects and themes of the film, and highlight people and issues the film was not able to address in the time allotted. The ‘webisodes’ uploaded on the site consist of footage that is

exclusive to the website: e.g., extended interview clips, outtakes, and material shot specifically for the website. ” There really is some cool stuff up on the website, some video outtakes from the doc and articles like the most recent one on the trailblazing punk fanzines like Punk (outta NYC), Sniffin’ Glue (from London), Search & Destroy (San Francisco), Slash and Flipside (LA), Twisted (Seattle), and Vancouver’s SnotRag. RAMPAGE AND BERGMA Scott breaks down NN PHOTO BY SUSANN E TABATA the history of Steve Taylor (a.k.a.

Steve Trevor) and Don Betts from Chicago (1979)! The deck will be SnotRag plus other Vancouver made in Canada and available to punk zines like Idle Thoughts and buy in May. You can get more info Scott’s own Skitzoid zine. on that at www.skullskates.com.

There’s also a limited edition “Bloodied But Unbowed” skatedeck being released to commemorate the film by Skull Skates, which features that awesome Randy Rampage photo by Bev Davies shot in

World premiere for Bloodied but Unbowed is May 13th in Vancouver during the DOXA fest! It’s gonna be awesome! (by Janelle Hollyrock)

I think everyone has a Chi Pig story. Mine’s a familiar one that involves him opening the side door to an already overcapacity club to let me sneak in to see SNFU. If you live in Vancouver, your story is probably similiar, or maybe it involves singing Scaryoke karaoke or buying one of his drawings off him at The Cobalt (RIP) or drinking with him at Pub 340. That’s where Sean Patrick Shaul and Craig Laviolette of Prairie Coast Films found him most often and interviewed him for their documentary “Open Your Mouth And Say... Mr. Chi Pig” which debuted last September in Vancouver. The doc looks at Chi Pig’s drug addiction, schizophrenia, and homelessness, not to mention the early years of SNFU and Vancouver’s drug and homeless culture. Necessary viewing, the doc interviews lotsa locals like Joey Shithead Keithley, Chris Walter, and Wendy13 (who were also in attendance at the screening as well as Chi Pig who cheered and hollered every time the Cobalt came on screen) as well as Chuck Dukowski and Jello Biafra, plus others like Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene) and Matthew Good.

After the free screening at Pacific Cinematheque, Bob and I chatted with Sean about the film, which is now available on DVD and for sale at record stores, online at www.chipig.com, and at SNFU shows (they’re currently touring Canada).

Janelle: What was it like watching the film with Chi Pig in the audience?

Sean: It was a little nerve wracking but we showed it to him a few weeks ago and that was really nerve wracking, more than tonight or the Edmonton showing for sure. He loved it. He cried, he laughed. It went really well.

J: What was it like showing it in Edmonton?

S: Edmonton had a great response. Lots of old friends and lots of family because myself, and the other producer Craig, is also from Edmonton. So it was a fun night for sure.

J: So why a doc about Chi Pig? It’s so obvious now that someone’s done it!

S: I guess just that, we thought it was so obvious, we found out no one had done it…

Bob: That’s what I was thinking.

S: Once we started, we heard a few people saying, “Oh I’m gonna do a book” or “I was gonna do a movie too” but no one actually materialized it.

J: Did you have a hard time finding him? Did you think, “Oh I’m just gonna go hang out in Pub 340 for the day and see what happens?”

S: Yeah, he doesn’t have a phone, doesn’t have email, it was pretty much… we’d eventually get to a point where we’d call 340 and leave a message but before that it was walk from our houses to 340, and if he was there he was there, if he wanted to talk, we’d do an interview, if not we’d just drink some or whatever. And sometimes he just wasn’t there.

J: So you met up with him a few times, there’s

some scenes at his house, at the bar, all over…

S: We must have interviewed him 7 times maybe, probably as many unfruitful meetings where we would just hang out with him.

J: How did you decide who else you were gonna interview? There was a real mixed bag of people, the Broken Social Scene guy, people I wouldn’t really think of when I think of Chi Pig or SNFU. S: Yeah we wanted to get people who weren’t in the punk scene. We knew that we would have the draw of the SNFU fans so we wanted to make it appealing to people who aren’t into punk music or SNFU, who have never heard of Chi Pig, PIN. GREL ZINE F HIS MON kinda OWING OF K OC YR LL CHI PIG SH HO E

BY JANELL POLAROID

make it broader for everybody.

J: I thought that was super weird to see, like, Matthew Good, like, what are they doing here?

S: Yeah, but definitely he influenced them for sure.

J: Yeah, I guess.

S: Matthew Good actually, I was really surprised, he’s a really hardcore punk fan. He was one-upping me on knowledge for sure.

I was surprised.

J: I actually thought you got him because of the mental illness aspect…

S: That as well. He’s struggled with addiction too and so it was a no-brainer for that one.

J: There didn’t seem to be a lot of music in the doc… could you not get the rights or…?

S: There’s a fair amount of music! Our soundtrack’s maybe got 14 songs in it! But yeah, they’re kinda in the background. And licensing, we can’t get all the Epitaph songs. I think we got, they did 3 albums on Epitaph and we used 4 songs from the Epitaph years.

J: I guess the elephant in the room is Marc, he didn’t want to be interviewed?

S: He did not want to be interviewed. Nope. He just said, “I support what you guys are doing, I think it’s cool.” he helped us license music, free music, but he just said, “I’m not interested in being in a movie about Ken Chinn.” And that’s understandable.

J: It’s interesting that he didn’t have anything he wanted to say, like on the record. I’ve read interviews with him where he’s been…

S: Fairly vocal.

J: Yeah, so…

S: I think it was because… because it wasn’t an SNFU film. It was about Chi, so he was probably like, “Well why would I wanna look like an asshole?” So he just stayed out of it.

J: I thought it was interesting that you didn’t bring up his homosexuality at all. I think it would’ve been really difficult to be gay in the punk scene in the ‘80s. Did he not wanna talk about it?

S: We were gonna focus on it a little heavier, but then when we talked to him we realized how much of a non-issue it was. We didn’t wanna exploit the fact, make it like the punk Brokeback Mountain. He doesn’t really talk about struggling with it at all. It came up, but it was like, “Oh okay, no big deal.” We all kinda knew before he said it. It was like, “Yeah, no kidding.”

B: Any plans for a DVD release?

S: We are seeking out distribution so that we don’t have to sell the DVDs individually through our website and do all that shit so we’re just hoping to get a distributor so they can take care of it.

J: Any festivals or other screenings coming up?

S: We submitted it to some festivals but we won’t hear back until January. Toronto’s being planned…

J: What else have you done as Praire Coast Films?

S: We’ve done a couple shorts, totally unrelated shorts, comedic and a drama. And music videos and commercials, but this is our first feature length.

J: Any interesting stories or takes that didn’t make it in?

S: So many … tracking him down was hilarious, always. We called it Pig Hunting. Go out, spend an hour looking for him… there are so many but I can’t think of anything right now.

J: Okay, thanks! www.chipig.com

Enter the Technicolor Aperture of the Mid to late sixties with such “effervescent” production companies releasing Art to Zorch genres in Japan (Ninkyo Eiga, Bakeneko, Ero Guro & Pinku Eiga films). One of these companies, Nikkatsu studios, had usurped a young starlet born Masako Ota that started in minor roles adjoined with Sonny Chiba.

The next chapter of screen appearances were pivotal in several constructs as that of a lynch pin (a wake the fuck up call if you will) to that the more insipid type of Yakuza Eiga crime dramas. This series Aptly named Nora-neko rokku (Stray Cat Rock) was a first in the line of Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno, catered to youth in Japan disenchanted with the mainstream. The iconoclastic precept “Tune In Turn On Drop Out” had sifted to the shores by way of youth gangs, many being girls, defacing traditions & ethos. Toei’s Pinky Violence Girl Boss (starring the also salacious Reiko Ike) series was significant on the same level of abandon, though the Stray Cat films had more of a hallucinogenic pulse & enter MEIKO KAJI as Mako in her starring role in Sex Hunter. Thrills, Pills & Butterfly Knives. This would not be considered the crust of Pinku Eiga without the Violence Cup, though not the most violent & depraved; it does set a precedent of roles for Meiko that follow. The nightclub scenes are brought vibrant, ever luminescent, with a range of chemical pan angles & Mako Lead of the Alleycat Gang sporting a black wide brim hat & the remaining vest set combo. Here is a first glimpse at the pennant gaze death emanation that she immortalized in the succession of her films.

The windows incredulously have a psychopomp despondence as black as any night & strangely comforting. The Japanese public had taken note. They filmed the next part of the Stray Cat series “Wild Jumbo” at the same time/different sets with similar nightlife shadow violence set to a freak beat soundtrack.

In earnest, I’m only profiling the films that hit... and the ones I’ve seen. Some in NA are still next to impossible to find, ie. Zankoku onna rinchi (Mini Skirt Lynchers).

The next signature feature to follow was Kaida nobori ryu (The Blind Woman’s Curse as known in North America), with one of the most exalted Ero Goru Directors Teruo Ishii. (I could write infinity on his works.) In this performance Meiko is the head of a Yakuza outfit entitled by her father, sporting sequestered sets of Dragon Tattoos. The opening credits is a euphoric foray of slow motion battle sequence in which Akemi (Meiko) the eyes midnight, delivers a kill while accidentally injuring the ill fated party’s protective sister.

A black cat then enters to lick the dripping gore from the sisters missing set of eyes.

A rare bridge for Meiko, as usually she is the deliverer of Revenge at its purest. The film follows the pulmonary patterns of the

Blind Woman hunting the flesh, literally of the Dragon Gang who had wronged her & her brother. A Zatoichi style setup with a freak & surreal flare signature to Teruo Ishii films.

She then made the choice to move another production company as prolific as Nikkatsu, Toei studios for a large section of her remaining filmography. Reason: Nikkatsu had decided to go into the range of full on nudity (Roman Porno) in their features, being less supportive & actually regressive of their earlier films where the main storyline catalyst revolved around the Heroine. A rare trade in that era.

The Gincho wataridori (Wandering Ginza Butterfly) set of films were more of a straightforward Yakuza storyline as that of the other films of that Genre. In certain respects this has semblance to her most recognized film in the west, Lady Snowblood, as that of a wayward traveler with Parasol in hand, in Ill tempered Weather, & intent to grievous ends.

The series that brought her true celebrity revelry in Japan was that of Joshuu sasori (Female Convict Scorpion): A series of five, though appeared in four; are similar in depravity to perhaps a Sam Peckinpah film. The tales of one amongst the many in the Japanese female prison system. Based off a manga series by Tooru Shinohara & largely directed by Shunya Ito, one could perceive an intent towards a panel strip structure with surrealism to add the bridge to reality. Bloodied, Beaten, & Berated: Matsu the Scorpion as her role, is seemingly forever kept in the shadows by the domineering echelon of the Prison Warden & Guards though never broken as to the worship of Revenge is too satisfying & encompassing for Matsu to fall prey of under any type of weakness. This infuriates her nemesis counterparts also for the fact that she never speaks. It’s almost as if they were able to imprison the allegorical entity of Death & if they lapse only for a moment, the fate they fear will come to pass.

The imagery & settings are lavishly put together specifically in one scene of the inmates digging what could be characterized as their tombs in a huge pit, lit up magically with a phantasmagorical painted Sunset background where the exhausted women strike back at their oppressors with the front end of their dust shovels. The series continues with variant cinematography that propels the violence to an art form that invertedly gives Meiko the guise of a Death Dealer with the black garb & Wide Brim Hat that she had donned in the Stray Cat Series.

Another manga brought to film was Meiko’s ultimate performance vehicle as a Lady born of Vengeance in Shurayukihime (Lady Snowblood) written by Kazuo Kamimura and Kazuo Koike, directed by Toshiya Fujita. On a side note, a lot of the vocal arrangements to her films were hers as the song “Shura no Hana” was sequentially fitted in the opening title/fight sequence where Yuki Kashima is on the trail to right the wrongs of a family she’s never known With a Parasol Samurai sword upon the absence of a skyline & snow to blanket the laid to waste indiscretions. Bloodlust is her makeup, as her Father & brother were eviscerated with only the Mother to stand & witness their purity adulterated by a Crimson flush to a white shell. The Mother enslaved, breeds the Gory entity to fill her hatred for the parties involved & entrust her in pact to one by one decimate the ones responsible. There is much use of Allegory with one of the adulterers’ daughters weaving human sized dolls that get thrown to sea, the narrator can comment directly on how the sea, crashing on the shore, reflects the internal state of the enraged heroine.

Yuki’s aggression and hatred is a literal expression of her revenge quest, an overwhelming drive that can continue even after the death of her object as when she severs the hanging corpse of her ultimate nemesis in half. Truly Masterful. There was a sequel named Love Song of Vengeance though the fury of the character had been laid dormant, also with Meiko’s performance.

She had worked a couple more times with Sonny Chiba & also the last significant movie she was involved before vanishing almost altogether from the cinema, was Yakuza no hakaba (Yakuza Graveyard) Dir by Kinji Fukasaku: one of the most heralded/ prolific Japanese artisans. The performance is still in the refuge of importance though not as much focus as in previous installments. No specific reason to go into such great lengths, other than the sheer brilliance & beauty of one of the most iconic women in film, that a lot of people outside of Japan have just not even had the chance to dream of.

BOMP! #22 discovered only in 2006 while compiling Saving the World… Amazing!

BOMP! 2: BORN IN THE GARAGE Edited by Suzy Shaw and Mike Stax BOMP/UT Publishing, 2009 As Suzy Shaw wrote in the intro to BOMP! Saving the World One Record at a Time (AMMO Books, 2007), that book wasn’t just the story of BOMP! and Greg Shaw, it’s a unique document of a time, place, and perspective. That large yellow book compiled by Suzy and Mick Farren (NME) firmly placed BOMP! in its place in history amongst the outbreak of teenage rebellion and rock fandom. Mick’s intro especially stands on its own as an inclusive history of rock ‘n roll. Saving the World… was a heavy, melancholy and reflective anthology that included reprints from Greg’s first music zine Mojo Navigator, Who Put the Bomp (#4-#13, 1970-1976), and BOMP! (#17-#22, 1977-1979), as well as the unfinished taped and glued

Born in the Garage, on the other hand, is as fun and upbeat as its William Stout cover suggests. Edited this time by Suzy and Mike Stax (Ugly Things), it includes reprints of Greg’s early zines like Liquid Love (14 issues from 1970) and Metanoia (13 issues from 1970-72) not in the first book, plus more from WPTB #2-#15 and BOMP! #16-22. A lotta interviews were already printed in Saving the World… but even more are included here plus Greg’s RIAWOL editorials, Ken Barnes’ Reverberations, and even the Feedback pages. I’m always in awe of how many letters older zines received.

And the letters pages are just as interesting as the editorials since BOMP! had just as in the know readers as writers!

This collection makes it really apparent how “of its time” WPTB was, for example the double issue #10-11 from 1973, reprinted almost entirely here, was such a “fucking classic” issue (as Patrick Boissel of Alive Records once said) that

it featured The Beatles, The Hollies, Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, Pretty Things, Downliners Sect, The Yardbirds, Small Faces, The Troggs, The goddamn Who… and even more all in one issue! And all reprinted here! Unfuckingbelievable.

Absolutely essential reading is Mike Stax’s R.I.A.W.O.L (Rock is a Way of Life) article that includes an comprehensive chronology of Greg’s zines, a bibliography of sorts, starting from WPTB #1 in 1970 and detailing what was in each issue and connecting that to what was going on in both Greg’s life as well as the changing scene of music in general from the ‘60s rock to punk to new wave. It’s an incredible piece of exhaustive journalism, but you wouldn’t expect any less from the editor of UT! Put out by UT Publishing , this book actually resembles Ugly Things in its look. It’s physically smaller than Saving the World, but at 312 pages no less packed full of garage nuggets!

All the content is directly copied from the original zines and is an absolutely essential time capsule to own. (Janelle Hollyrock) CANYON OF DREAMS: THE MAGIC AND THE MUSIC OF LAUREL CANYON Harvey Kubernik Sterling 2009 www.sterlingpublishing.com I certainly tend to agree that, in the infamous words of no less an authority on all things Laurel

Canyon, California as F. Zappa, most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.

Which makes a book such as the one I write of today even more special, and without a single doubt worthy of your very own careful study.

True, in a market already too glutted with Fortieth Anniversary re-servicings of everything from Woodstock to the Stones’ Altamont gorefest, one would hardly be blamed in passing by yet another study of Los Angeles pop culture from its equally distant, if Golden age. Somehow though, veteran SoCal rock historian Harvey Kubernik’s bountiful new Canyon Of Dreams book is the joyous exception to the patchouli-drenched rule: It is both lush in layout and deep in detail, of not only the musicians, but the arrangers, club owners, publicists and even architecture behind an era roughly stretching from Art Laboe to Slash.

hitherto unimaginable El Lay links between the Mothers and the Monkees are irrevocably connected as never before in print, while unsung musical heroes aplenty – from Three Dog Night’s Danny Hutton to original Canyon Queen Jackie DeShannon (as opposed to Joni Mitchell) – are not only illuminated, but speak at gorgeous length in their very own words throughout these twenty-full chapters. Myths are dispelled (such as the real origins behind Messrs. Crosby, Stills and Nash’s much-debated initial meet-n-greet) while just as many legendary Hollywood stories remain as unconfirmable as ever …and most frustratingly, fascinatingly so, I must just add.

parlayed a lighting booth gig at the Whisky A Go Go into life as a sometimes intimately-involved photographer-to-the-stars), not to mention other such, as Papa John Phillips once sang, young girls who came to the Canyon and never ever went completely home. But, as Kubernik confidante Ray Manzarek writes in his most a-Door-ing Foreword, “all soft and bejeweled and feathered and wrapped in their soft garments from antique clothing stores,” these, yes, L.A. Women play an intrical part in the proceedings, above and far, far beyond simply providing horizontal pleasures for the myriad curly guitar strummers they, and now we, duly encounter along the way.

And capturing this all, as he continues to this very day (his own Under The Covers documentary is also Required Viewing, by the way) is none other than the truly gifted Henry Diltz,

Or, as the author himself tells me, “We needed a print ride from 1914 to 2009. I took the challenge.”

“I knew my highly passionate writing style and implementation of the oral history structure could really bring readers into a real/ reel world from my native viewpoint.” And Kubernik’s approach, like a spin off the Strip itself, is one perfectly chaotic, wildly colorful concoction wherein Donovan rubs coffee table-sized pages with the Firesign Theatre HARVEY KUBERNIK and Eric Burdon, only to find Glen Meanwhile, besides Campbell bumping lazily into Anall the obvious Cast of Characters drew Loog Oldham by way of Rick along the way, we’re after all these Rubin and the Mamas and Papas. decades finally introduced to such seminal figurines as Nurit Wilde Then, just a thumbnail away, (All-Canadian expatriate who

whose photographs of all things Laurel – and then some – are lovingly reproduced throughout Canyon Of Dreams in stunning, revelatory glory. To cite but one example, his somehow innocent yet simultaneously striking image of a young, unguarded Linda Ronstadt on page 163 more than lives up to its caption (“Barefoot and Breathtaking with Killer Pipes”) while at the same time showing more behind two brown eyes than with the proverbial thousand words, no matter how well

chosen they may indeed be.

Yes, that is precisely the kind of book Kubernik has produced. And like the people, the places, and most absolutely the music of which he and his assembled multitude speak, the editorial approach and even layout itself remains as flippantly sun-baked as one would expect when grappling with the reminiscences of Kim Fowley, Pamela Des Barres and Micky Dolenz.

Because after all, as The Man Who Invented The Rolling Stones explains right there on Page 45, in L.A. “we had fun getting it done.”

“My roots go back to the mid-Fifties in this town,” Kubernik explains. “I was born at Queen of Angeles Hospital, overlooking the Hollywood 101 Freeway at the border of Los Angeles and East Hollywood. I graduated from Fairfax High School.

Do I have to even say anything else?”

Well, as the abovementioned Danny Hutton exclaimed, “Harvey, you did a book about forty years, not four years.

You did a book not about the same seven people or bands, but seventy people!” And somehow, so much more as well.

Read Canyon Of Dreams today, and read it often. (Gary Pig Gold) DIG IT! #47 (46 pages, A4) http://digitfanzine.chez.com Rock’n’roll fanzine outta France

that’s been shakin’ yer bones since 1994! This newest issue features interviews with European garage bands Mama Rosin, The Mediums, and Tex Napalms, plus r’n’r comic artist Ralph Bakshi.

But first up label news by way of regular feature “Through the Grapevine” which mentions Dead Ghosts somewhat recent Bachelor split with Smith Westerns (they’re digging Dead Ghosts’ country ballads, “floods of guitars”, and cryptic lyrics). There’s also a long live review of The Oblivians

and Gories show at La Maroquinerie in Paris, and Part 4 of a roots of punk article that’s made its way up to 1976 and not only mentions ground zero (NYC) bands like the Ramones, Heartbreakers, and Blondie but goes further inland to give credit to bands like the Real Kids and Pere Ubu. Next issue will have Part 5: London in 1977. And, of course, there’s lotsa reviews so if yer fluent en français, be sure to pick this one up! (Janelle Hollyrock)

LOST IN TYME #5 + CD (50 pages, A4) www.myspace.com/lostintymefanzine Lost In Tyme outta Greece is 100% stuck in the garage music scene.

If yer looking to read about bona fide primitive 60’s garage fuzz, then editor Peris is yer man. It’s been over a year since Lost in Tyme #4 hit the presses and I was beginning to think that issue was the last we’d see of this fanzine, but turns out it was just the arrival of a new member of the LiT team, Peris’ son Alex, who held up production! It was a long wait, but #5 does not disappoint: Like previous issues of this r’n’r zine, all interviews and articles swirl around ‘60s and revival garage rock including a cool chat with Don Craine of The Downliners Sect where he talks about the audience’s reaction to them back in the ‘60s, Billy Childish and Thee Headcoats Sect, and there’s even mention of a lost EP from ’64 that was found, purchased on ebay, and soon to be released later this year!

There’s also interviews with modern acts like Garage Gods from Portland (on Lost in Tyme Records), Moscow’s The Crushers, the never-ending Underground Press article (part three in this ish), tonnes of reviews, and of course a full colour surfing mushroom head cover by artist Darren “King” Merinuk who’s done all the LiT covers so far. Includes a CD comp with 18-songs from all bands featured in the zine. Check it out!

(Janelle Hollyrock) ROCTOBER #47 (108 pages, 8 1/2 x 11”) www.roctober.com Roctober editor Jake Austen started his zine in 1992 in order to print a Sleepy LaBeef interview he did that was supposed to print in a punk zine that never materialized.

So, like the rest of us who think “What the hell. I can do this… and better,” he started his own zine. Almost two decades later, Roctober still looks like it was laid out in WordPerfect 5.1, but it definitely sets the bar for content.

It’s consistently packed full of interviews with the most obscure artists on the fringes of r’n’r. I dunno how Jake finds these people but I’m glad he does ‘cause it always results in a fascinating read!

Issue #47 is primarily the OBIT issue (articles on Ron Asheton, Lux Interior, Les Paul, Ray Dennis Steckler, to name just a few of the pages and pages of obits in here) but there’s also interviews with guitarist Dwight Thompson (who played with Klaus Nomi in Heat and roadied for Johnny Thunders) and Bernice Williams who wrote songs with Gene Chandler and Earl Edwards like Dukays’ “Duke of Earl” and wrote and sang on The Starlets’ “Better Tell Him No”, an answer to Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ “Better Shop Around”. Chicago soul, NY underground, hundreds of music reviews, comics, and probably more I haven’t even gotten to yet…

Roctober puts us all to shame.

(Janelle Hollyrock)

the price isn’t any more than what you’d regularly pay for Shindig! on this side of the pond. So inside there’s a flashback to Texan garage bands the Moving Sidewalks, Zakary Thaks, Red Crayola, and The Stoics; and a spread on Bay Area groups like Syndicate of Sound and The Gotham City Crimefighters; plus of course no book called Psychotic Reaction would be complete without something on the vampy San Jose teens Count Five. I dug The Pleasure Seekers feature by Jeanette Leech (currently working on a book about acid, psych, and experimental folk)

a mock funeral a pack of hippies put on at a park. As the tea-heads pretend to be paying last tributes to one of their brethren (who is actually about to get it on with a groovy babe in his coffin) Sky and the band trip around the grounds ‘playing’ their song ‘Two Fingers Pointing On You’.” How could you not wanna watch that film!?

(Janelle Hollyrock)

SHINDIG! PRESENTS PSYCHOTIC REACTION: THE U.S. ‘60s GARAGE EXPLOSION Edited by Andy Morten Volcano Publishing, 2009 New book from Shindig! Magazine, Psychotic Reaction is a collection of out-of-print features and brand new scoops on American garage bands from the ‘60s. Unfortunately it’s impossible to tell which articles are new and which are reprints as nothing is dated or noted as coming from a specific issue of Shindig! Not a regular Shindig! reader, some of these interviews could even be from Jon Mills’ first zine Gravedigger for all I know. At 101 pages and laid out just like the magazine this actually feels more like a large or double issue than a book as advertized but that’s a small bitch to make considering

STANDARD ISSUE #9 (26 pages, 8 1/2 x 11”) http://standardissuemag.com Still fighting the good fight of who spoke to Patti, Nancy, and reporting on the Ottawawesome Arlene Quatro, as well as Darline scene, Ben Jensen and the fireArnone to get the definitive hisbreathing hippy-killing childtory and lotsa old personal photos hating contributors of Standard on the band whose style inspired Issue have put out their newest many garage girls! (If you’re jock-humour and puke-filled free going through a r’n’r biography zine. Numero 9 has interviews phase right now due to the newly with Dead Ghosts (info you don’t released Runaways movie based already know: Moe is the band’s on Cherie Currie’s bio Neon Angel, designated smack buyer) and an add Suzi Quatro’s Unzipped to Ottawa band with a penchant for your list. You won’t be disappointBlack Flag tattoos called Year ed!) And regular Shindig! contribu- Zero, but as always it’s the opinion tor Brian Greene puts together the pieces that really make Standard best and worst moments in garage Issue the best juvenile punk zine band cinema. From 1968’s Psychyou’ve read since… well, since Out, he writes, “The noteworthy never. Dave Williams spares no garage moments occurs when The detail when describing being knee Seeds are the entertainment at deep in AIDS-tainted (not really),

SHITTY REALITY #2 www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc I found this little arty zine in a pile at Bob and Janelle’s house. It’s weird and disjointed and interesting. Photos of shows and others stuff interspersed with bits of prose and naive line drawings. At first I thought it was the project of an artist launching themselves via the greatest form of communication -- the wee free zine. Kinda, it’s art by Cassie Ramone of the Vivian Girls. I would definitely recommend flickr.com/photos/ cassieramone to properly enjoy her photographs and drawings. They are pretty awesome and different and funny but the zine seems thrown together and makes it hard to appreciate them. Pretty shocked and disappointed to find out it costs $5. (Morgan A. Cook)

gangrenous blood and enough piss, shit, pus, and vomit “to give even the most seasoned gore-fiend a boner for the rest of his days.” That is, installation #1 of Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II. Then there’s Ben’s tips for drinking outta your ass (“If you pour a nice adult beverage into your bum through an enema tube, the alcohol will bypass all of your body’s filters (those damn kidneys and livers again) and instead be absorbed rapidly and efficiently by the supersensitive membranes in your colon.”), not to mention their Shitty/Not Shitty review section that always includes a healthy dose of dick measuring.

I know it’s wrong, but I might just love Standard Issue more than my own zine. The Standard Issue guys have lost their gravy train of free photocopies so swing by their website and drop them a donation. A zine this bad must not go unsupported! (Janelle Hollyrock) TOTAL TRASH #1, #2 (8 pages, 7x10”) A monthly print zine that’s free to pick up around town but I’ve yet to see it anywhere. #1 was given to me by Mike from Dead Ghosts who tells readers how and

why he started a band (to have an excuse to break things). There’s also four other articles about first times, good xmas gifts, bros, and shitty dollar store finds. #2 is the romance issue, due to it coming out in February and all that, so it opens up with the Pablo Neruda poem “Drunk as Drunk” (the editors are UBC students, of course), and includes a where to find love in Vancouver bit that’s mostly an excuse to comment ironically on our city’s finest dive and strip bars, something about a séance, and tips for being a musician’s girlfriend: buy a van with lots of storage space and a

area punk scene: “Treat Me Like Dirt, An Oral History Of Punk In Toronto and Beyond 1977-1981” by Toronto author Liz Worth. The title sums it up. (Incidentally the title is the chorus of a Simply Saucer song, Bullet Proof Nothing, see the interview w/ Edgar Breau of SS in MZ # 6.)

Beaming you back in time to the beginnings of the punk rock scene in Toronto, Hamilton, and London Ontario the book takes you from the very first inklings of the Toronto punk scene: the movie theatre showings that eventually became a meeting place for many of the original band members, and even the first place The Ramones played in Canada.

Everything from the Toronto art scene and its early influence, to the clubs to the record stores to the punk houses to the speakeasies to anything else to do with the scene is covered in this book.

There’s a full timeline for bands The Diodes, The Viletones, Simply Saucer, The Ugly,

house with a sound proof basement.

Nowhere is it mentioned that girls are now allowed to be in their own bands but oh well, it is a free zine.

(Janelle Hollyrock) TREAT ME LIKE DIRT: AN ORAL HISTORY OF PUNK IN TORONTO AND BEYOND 19771981 Liz Worth Bongo Beat 2010 http://bongobeat.com Most of you have probably read, or at least heard of the book “Please Kill Me, The Uncensored Oral History of Punk” by Punk Magazine scribe Legs McNeil.

Well now there’s a similar book just out, detailing the Toronto and

Teenage Head, The Curse, The Forgotten Rebels, and to a lesser extent The Demics, The Poles, and The Secrets. The majority of the members still alive from the above mentioned bands are interviewed as well as some of their girl/boyfriends, fans, and some of the movers and shakers behind the scenes.

All of the bands are covered in more gritty detail than you could possibly imagine and some of these details came to light for the first time (as was mentioned by both the publisher Ralph Alfonso and editor and Mongrel Zine contributor Gary Pig Gold). Author Liz Worth did an excellent job interviewing all of these people, you get the feeling that you’re listening to the people talk directly to you as you read through the almost 400 pages. Personalities come to light, some good, others not so much and you can understand why certain things happened or didn’t due to some of these traits.

To make it easy, there’s a listing of all of the people interviewed and their contributions (band member, manager, fan, etc) at the beginning of the book. You’ll find yourself referring back to this multiple times as there are so many people involved in the stories.

And not all of the stories included here have happy endings as they are true life stories. Drugs, alcohol, rivalries, violence, egos, and other factors all come in to play as we’re taken through the lives of the many band members. But the saddest to me was that of Teenage Head vocalist Frankie Venom, who is featured throughout the book and passed away before the book was finally published.

Also included in the book are lots of small black and white candid photos of not only the bands, but many of the other people that are interviewed as well as relevant places. Very few of these pictures have seen the light of day since taken many years ago.

Obviously in a book like this, not every band can get covered to their

liking. Some of the bands that I noticed that were barely mentioned or overlooked completely were The Battered Wives (actually a couple of bands referred to them as older and scene jumpers), The Scenics (see interview in MZ #2), The Government, Tyranna, Slander, and The Allies to mention a few.

That’s a minor point, but interestingly enough, there’s several people now working on a Toronto punk rock band tree due to them not being included in this book. And that’s great because now even more information about that era is going to surface and maybe even more unreleased recordings!

We can only hope so because in my humble opinion, some of the best music to ever come out of Canada came out in this era.

Paul Robinson, vocalist for The Diodes best summed it up in the book, “Thirty years later it’s still one of the most important movements in music. It’s maybe one of five seminal movements in modern music. I think it did change things. You wouldn’t see the things that you see today without the influence of punk.”

I talked to Liz at length about the book and asked her if there was any chance she would do a second book that would carry on from where this book left off. Liz answered that she spent 2 years of her life totally immersed in the creation of this book and at this point in time she didn’t think so. If someone else wanted the workload, she wouldn’t mind, but no doors are closed at this time. We can only hope that a second edition that covers the later scene will come out some day. And also a book or books on some of the other major punk scenes from Canada…we definitely need one on Vancouver!

Overall a great read that’ll give you an insight into the Toronto and area punk scene and will whet your appetite to hear some of the amazing sounds that were created in that era.

And the neat thing about this book is that you can open it just

about anywhere and start reading a chapter as each is a short story in its own right. That’s the way I started to read the book as I just had to get the full story on my hometown heroes The Demics. And their whole story is here with loads of landmarks from London that are long gone but sure kindled my memory! After that I had to read the entire book, in fact I couldn’t put it down once I started. Highly recommended for anyone with any interest in the beginnings of late 70’s Canadian punk rock!!! (Dave O’Halloran)

WAXPOETICS #38 (112 pages, 7 x 10”) wwww . axpoetics.com I picked up this mag to read the article on Michael Abramson who took stunning photographs of clubgoers in Chicago’s south side during the heady disco days of the ‘70s (www.michaelabramson.com) but ended up reading the entire magazine in one night! Focusing primarily on ’70s to present era R&B, jazz, funk, soul, and hip-hop, Waxpoetics is called the cratedigger’s bible. An impeccably put together magazine, it feels like it needs to be read consecutively, as in each article the subject is placed in context with those who came before. The mag opens with

It’s not all music though, there’s also The Next Hustle, a detailed retelling of the real life of fantastic author and ex-pimp Robert Beck, aka Iceberg Slim, based off of numerous conversations between his last wife and youngest daughter, and a spread on “80 Blocks from Tiffany’s”, a documentary on South Bronx gangs shot by Gary Weis in ’79, shelved by BBC for being

CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU WHEN YOU DIE

by Nicolas Drolc www.reverenddeadeye.com www.muellersjournal.com A DVD documentary about German artist and blues fan Christoph Mueller and American one-man-band Reverend Deadeye shot last year during the Reverend’s European tour stop in Mueller’s hometown of Aachen.

They’re both introspective cats of the sort who recently discover Joe Coleman and Hunter S. Thompson

too controversial, and apparently recently released on DVD through Traffic Entertainment but I can’t find any listing for it in their catalogue.

Probably the first magazine I’ve read where I’ve wanted to mention every single article (don’t miss the last page on cybernetics, Louis and Bebe Barron, and Forbidden Planet!) I don’t think I can recommend Waxpoetics enough.

Oh and look out for the hilariously placed ad for Japandroids’ Post-Nothing LP hidden amongst the Funky Town Grooves ads and Curtis Mayfield spread. One of these things is not like the other…

and like to drink whiskey and sound off on stuff like letting your mind be your guide and killing your TV and all that jazz. I really dig Mueller’s drawings, which are very suggestive of Robert Crumb’s “Heroes of Blues, Jazz, & Country”, and the Reverend, the son of a Pentecostal holy roller, dishes up some deep gospel blues but when given

(Janelle Hollyrock) ZONG, PLEATHER SEEKER!, AND MEGAFAUNA! Rich Catwrangleur www.myspace.com/catwrangleur Real DIY mini zines given to me

by Rich Catwrangleur (The Trap Doors) full of trippy hippie drawings of cats and aliens underground comix style. Check out that Pleather Seeker Segar! Doesn’t it remind you of Gilbert Shelton of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and, my all-time favourite comic, Fat Freddy’s Cat? Cool shit. (Janelle Hollyrock)

a soapbox from which to scold the sleeping masses for mindlessly consuming instead of forging their own path the two come off eye-rollingly unaware that the movement they’re espousing is at least twenty years old. Well meaning, but ultimately a little goofy, Mueller and the Reverend find a kinship in their perceived “outsider” status based on their shared pretentious posturing. Overall, director Nicolas Drolc creates a well-done doc with some black ‘n white minimalist scenes and live colour clips of The Reverend, but probably for serious fans only.

(Janelle Hollyrock) JOE COLEMAN PORTRAIT BY C. MUELLER

vintage vinyl releases (reviewing ‘70s era Marvin Gaye and Melvin Van Peebles records) and segues into articles on blaxploitation and soulful instrumental soundtracks of the ‘70s, the music and politics of black action films, and an absolutely fascinating look at the role of the record player in classic film (Raymond Burr putting Nat King Cole on the turntable in “The Blue Gardenia“ is a pivotal point in that ’53 film). All which feels like historical backstory to the later interviews with Spike Lee (who was influenced by fellow NYU alum Jim Jarmusch. Who knew?) and alternative animator Ralph Bakshi (Fritz the Cat, American Pop, Heavy Traffic).

check out on the brand new release “Be Brave”. Whereas on recordings of the Strange Boys they sometimes remind me of a theatrical Bob Dylan/Chuck Berry hybrid, live they of course have that rawer rock and roll quality.

The vocals/lyrics get a little lost but sound more sincere. I like it both ways. Up next…

Ian Svenonius’ ability to hold a room is uncanny.

Such an exciting contrast between the Strange Boys set and then him holding court.

Chain and the Gang’s set maintained that inter-

POSTER BY BOB SCOTT, PHOTO BY JANELLE HOLLYROCK

CHAIN AND THE GANG, STRANGE BOYS, AND COSMETICS, March 5th at The Media Club, Vancouver BC The Media Club was full when we got there and the crowd had pushed up front for the Cosmetics set which was good to see. Way too atmospheric and moody for me though so I just sat in the middle, in the weird way that you can at the Media Club, and got giggly over Jen from Makeout Videotape accidentally tripping the ever-gallant Ian Svenonius of whom she’s an enormous fan. Strange Boys came out and played so sweet and so smooth everyone up front got swaying and bopping and even twisting to their distinct brand of twangy loveliness. These boys are essential country and western/ rhythm and blues/rock and roll to me, which they come by honestly via their Austin origins. At the same time they have this “dawn of a new sound” thing that you get with a band like the Kinks, which is weird and exciting and must be all in the songwriting… or two great guitarists… or having brothers in a band. They played lots of good stuff from “Strange Boys and Girls Club” that I needed to hear like “Woe is You and Me”. They had Jenna E. Thornhill de Witt, of Mika Miko, joining them for sax and vocals on this tour which added a nice flavour that you can

play between dialogue/storytelling and bluesy rock and roll that creates humour, tension, and interest.

Unique in sound from Svenonius’s other bands the Makeup or Nation of Ulysses, Chain and the Gang maintains his tongue-in-cheek

punk ethic. Jumping on his monitor from the beginning of their first song, waving eyeballs and dollar bills at the audience there is no doubt that Svenonius is a talented and charismatic frontman. The band members are apparently on a pretty high rotation but everyone was super sharp and Veronica on bass was an auditory and visual show-stopper who provided the perfect accents and vocals for Svenonius to bounce himself off of, especially for songs like “Trash Talk”. Ryan Sambol come back on stage to join them for a rousing rendition of “Deathbed Confession”, a rambling tale that has to be heard to be believed. (Morgan A. Cook) WHITE WIRES, SONIC AVENUES, ROCKET REDUCERS, AND LONESOME GHOST, March 12th at Moon Over Marin, London ON I was a bit nervous going into this one, as this was our first attempt at putting on a show at the relatively new venue Moon Over Marin here in sleepy London, Ontario.

Things were a bit slow to start due to the relatively warm weather and inordinate amount of rain coming down at what normally would be show start time. Then Lonesome Ghost hit the stage, sounding way louder than usual due to the full PA and they were fired up on both cylinders, pounding out their crude blues punk on full throttle! And yes, the crowd dug them, which is great cause I’m always afraid that people won’t get what these guys are trying to do.

Next up, The Rocket Reducers who were totally revved up and ready to rock! Man, talk about tightly wound, these guys had that perfect meshing of the dual guitar attack down solid. Rock’n’roll meets hardcore meets powerpop all rolled into one killer band.

They ripped through several tunes

Next up, Sonic Avenues made their long anticipated debut in London and the wait was certainly worth it. These guys have that late ‘70s powerpop sound down to perfection with the dueling Rickenbackers through Vox amps and it sounded oh so sweet!

Then suddenly out of nowhere I got hit by a Pointed Stick and my feet would not stop moving!

They had me dancing like a fool for the rest of their set that ended way too soon with a Kids (Belgium flavour) tune that caught me off guard. Lot of smiles and mouths left hanging open after that set!

And finally, the band that everyone had been waiting for, The White Wires took the stage and a mass of bodies moved to the front of the stage. Smiles all around as this trio

HAM, March 28th at the Astoria, Vancouver BC Rainy Sunday night at the Astoria, Stompin’ Mark went up first and played to a scarce and uninterested crowd. It was hard to tell if he was any good what with the silence echoing all around. I don’t think I heard nearly enough “stomping’” but I wasn’t giving my undivided attention. I kinda zoned on the music and tried to catch up with Gunsmoke. This four-piece psychobilly group from Ottawa has been a strong part of the garage scene for years but usually play in other cities all over the U.S. and Canada. They have had a variety of drummers but it’s always twins Adam and Sam Freeborn on stand-up bass and guitar/vocals respectively and Ben Hurlow on lead. They were playing Vancouver and then taking a break after eight consecutive shows before heading to Prince George. Having not seen them since we played a show in their basement last Easter, I was blown away by how touring has improved them. Everything was tighter and harder. Adam’s bass was rhythmic thumpy perfection. Sam seems to have come into his own as a frontman, his voice shows a new quality and depth. Hurlow has always played a surfy lead that could knock your socks off but it is fair to say his skill level has progressed to exceptional. They played an instrumental that was everything I needed. The Parallels seemed a bit out of sorts and sloppy - I blame the lackluster crowd. Not that they didn’t take the heckling well. Honestly they are so tight a few fuck-ups and some rough edges just make them sound more garage so I didn’t mind at all. It’s always a pleasure to see them play and you could tell they were enjoying themselves, which is what counts. Plus I love to watch when Jarrod Odell freaks out on the organ. There’s just one thing that bothers me though… how is it that “Arms to Hold You” hasn’t been written before, seeing as it is the perfect song? (Morgan A. Cook)

ROCKET REDUCERS AND SONIC AVENUES PHOTOS BY DAVE O’HALLORAN

from their first 12” and some from their about to be released 2nd LP that I just can’t wait to hear if this is any indication.

went full out for this crowd, many of whom knew the words to the songs and were singing along as their feet and bodies just couldn’t keep still! Visually, singer guitarist Ian Manhire reminded me of a young JJ Burnel (The Stranglers bass player) with his constant dancing and spread leg jumps in perfect unison to the beat. And sound wise, the walking fuzz bass lines sure sounded a lot like early Stranglers, but instead of the evil darkness, we got the happy powerpop minimalism of The White Wires. And that sure was a joy on that rainy Friday night that we’d all been anticipating for ages.

Afterwards, smiles everywhere as some of us reminisced about the old days of the late ‘70s and how these bands successfully

took us back in time to that magic era! A definite contender for show of the year here in boring old London!! (Dave O’Halloran) THE PARALLELS, GUNSMOKE, AND STOMPIN’ MARK GRA-