skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Smash It Up is a Toronto punk fanzine. This issue came out in April 1981. The cover artwork is courtesy of Noxious Art and I am not sure what a palm tree is doing on front of a Toronto skyline unless it is replicating the signage for the El MoCombo. This issue makes the promise that there will be an issue of Smash It Up coming out weekly for the month of April. I'm not sure if that happened but there is a listings for the Horseshoe on the inside cover so you get a look at all the shows happening that would be interest to the punk scene. This issue also starts out with a review of a local band called The Partys Over. They released a cassette in the vein of Kraftwerk. More evidence of Toronto's diversity when it came to music.
Bauhaus played the Edge on March 4th, 1981 and there is a review of the show that really starts out the issue. Simple Minds also played the Edge and there is an attempt at an interview but that doesn't come off.
There is an interview with Andy Paterson from the Government which is lengthy, but I appreciated that as this is the first interview I have read about the Government. They talk about things like the band's releases, the importance of independent art, and a song called "Flat Tire" that had some local coverage.
There is a Captain Beefhart piece that is illegible in this issue.
There is a handwritten interview with Truths and Rights who were a reggae band that appears on the Last Pogo compilation. they get asked about their thoughts on bands like the Police. And later in this issue there is a piece on another local reggae band called One Love. Maybe the reggae coverage warranted the palm tree theme.
This appears courtesy of the archival collection of Dhaibid James who hosts Moondog's Ballroom on CIUT 89.5FM.
Smash It Up is a Toronto punk fanzine. Despite the 1980 date on the cover, the part 3 of the Bangkok interview situates the release of this at February 1981. The issues starts out with a page and a half of reviews for recent releases like Nash the Slash's "Deadman's Curve" and the Clash's "Hitsville UK". Other reviews included Spandau Ballet's "the Freeze" and the Au Pairs "Diet". An odd review is Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight". There is also a Stranglers ep that I don't know about but most have come out after "Raven" which came out in 1979.
Interestingly this issue tucks in an interview with Sector 27 which was Tom Robinson's band who is most well known for the "Glad to be Gay" anthem.
There is another interview with Jean Jacques Burnell of the Stranglers. JJ tells the back story to a riot at a gig of theirs at a University in France, which they were about to go to court for. There was a slso a riot at a gig in Queensland Australia,which has even mre nefarious undertones associated to a local politician who was carrying out a campaign against punks and punk clubs. The song "Nuclear Device" was written about said politician.
There is an interview with Fred Frith about his record contract and had an appeal to punks for his Zappa meets Cage approach to guitar.
A reggae band by the name of One Love is interviewed. This band was a band made up of Ishan People (who were in the Last Pogo) and Mystics.
There is an interview with L'Etranger when they were a four piece. I found it intersting to learn about their appreciation of the Mods and that scene.
There is an interview with Drastic Measures who I remember seeing on the video shows and getting some radio airplay back in the day. I didn't realize that one of the members was in the Dishes.
There is a hilarious write up on the U-Knows which was an award show for alternative bands used to make a statement about the Junos. Sounds like it was just as bad as the ceremony it set about parodying.
Part 3 of the Bangkok interview appears here but it looses something from the absense of the other two parts.