The Secrets LP

The Secrets were a band that formed taking the best players of the first wave of the Toronto punk scene. Freddy Pompeii of the Viletones was on guitar and vocals, Chris Haight of the Viletones and the Ugly played guitar, John Hamilton - the drummer of the Diodes - played bass, and Motor Mike Anderson played drums. The band's name comes from the fact that the band members had to keep this band a secret from their other bands. It is not an all out punk record. The cover of "Pretty Woman" demonstrates the bands R and B roots. Songs like "All the Girls in the World" sound more like a mod song. And why not, the Mods were a part of this era of the Toronto punk scene. "Zoom" is sung as a barber shop quartet and the Nylons were also big at the time. There was a lot of promise for this release, but it was not to be the punk supergroup that they should have been. This did go along with bands like Battered Wives who were label mates. This was released by Bomb Records, the same label that did the Last Pogo. The songs on here are :

1. Suzie Peroxide
2. Teenage Rampage
3. Pretty Woman
4. All the Girls in the World
5. Zoom
6. Tattoo City
7. Rock Music
8. Strictly from Cough Syrup
9. New Blood
10. Take Another Look

Flyer - 1980

Bomb Records made a tour poster for the Secrets and the Scenics. This is from Gary "Pig" Gold's archive.

True Confessions "Give Him a Great Big Kiss"

Essentially this was the Curse's bassist and guitarist with Mike Nightmare's girlfriend, Ruby T's on vocals, Julia Bourque on guitar and vocals, Anna Bourque on bass, and Alina Solina on keyboards. This line up was born on the meltdown within the band described in Treat Me like Dirt while playing in New York and Boston. The manager convinced them to change the name to something more "radio friendly", but they were never be as good as the originally line up in the Curse. This is a cover of a single that would come out on Bomb records in 1979. The True Confessions would go on to have two more line ups which involved John Hamilton of the Diodes and Bryant Didier who would go on to play of in Drastic Measures and Jane Sibery. The A side was a Shangri-Las cover and the B-side had an original called "Jimmy's Fast".

Zine - Battered Wives zine #1

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