Radio - Sunday, July 21st, 2013

Genetic Control were a hardcore band from Montreal around between 1983 and 1985. They were one of Canada's best hardcore bands which is evidenced in how sought after the "First Impressions" single is today. Many tributes have been paid to the band one of which was the bootlegged dedication record to Tim Yohannon which contained the song "Love Rat" by the band. In fact I think one of the reason's why "Primitive Air Raid" is so good is because of their song "Suburban Life" which in my opinion is the best song on the compilation. The band is now scattered across the country, but every few years they get together to play amd for some big name people. They opened for Flag at this year's NXNE and I was able to speak to the two Robs who play guitar and Doug-O on bass (Saturday June 15th). We spoke about their songs, their recordings, the sows they played, the bands they played with, the scene and their beloved practise space known as the Bleury Beach Club or the BBC for short. The interview was long and thanks to Eric Betlam for cleaning up the audio quality and spending a couple of hours with me cutting it down so that we could fit in the openng song "1984" and some brief underlying recordings by the band. This band deserves a re-issue and maybe a collected discography but here is a bit of their story.

GENETIC CONTROL - 1984 (Generic)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
S.C.U.M. - Home away from home (Psyche)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview
FAIR WARNING - You are the Scene (Self-Released)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - I'm Eighteen (Unreleased)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Big Takeover (Unreleased)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Love Rat (Generic)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Brave New World (Generic)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - 1984 (Generic)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - First Impressions (Unreleased)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Urban Cowboy (Generic)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Licence to Kill (Unreleased)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Gilligan's Island (Unreleased)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Meet Billy (Unreleased)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Rockin with Seka (Unreleased)
GENETIC CONTROL - Interview (CIUT)
GENETIC CONTROL - Subruban Life (Generic)

Ad for Montreal releases in MRR

This ad for Montreal punk releases appeared in issue #22, which came out in February 1985. Click on image to enlarge it to a readable size.

V/A "Primitive Air Raid" LP

Primitive Air Raid is the first record of it's kind in Montreal. It is a random sample of Montreal's unrecorded underground. A few alternative bands made the record, but largely this represented the underground. the scene in Montreal has been alive for years. S.C.U.M. was asked to particpate but had difficulties retreiving their recording so they missed the deadline. Violent Meals went to Europe and forgot to leave their tape. Porcelain Forehead were from Ottawa and Direct Action were from Toronto. Both bands played a benefit show for the comp and as a result were added to this comp. This classic comp was the first release by Psyche Records who would go on to produce a number of other releases mostly of Montreal bands.

Jeff Bale reviewed the comp in MRR as "An excellent cross-section of Montreal-area bands, most of which haven't released any vinyl before. From the thrash of DIRECT ACTION and NO POLICY to the chunky pop-punk of the NILS to AMERICAN DEVICES' weird, rockin' stuff to fast punk by GENETIC CONTROL, the ABSURDS, and FAIR WARNING to the garage punk of PORCELAIN FOREHEAD to MORBID FIRE's experimental garage thrash, this album provides listening enjoyment. The only musical letdowns are art- damaged numbers by ≠ and IAGO NEON. The ASEXUALS, on the other hand, provide the lyrical low-point with their imbecilic pro-contra chant; their line "political morons without a fucking clue" must be autobiographical, since they apparently know nothing about Nicaragua, American foreign policy, or the circle-A which they employ in their moniker." (from Maximum Rocknroll #19, November 1984)

The songs on here are:

1. Asexuals - Contra-Rebels

2. Fair Warning - Six O'Clock Blues

3. Fair Warning - Open Your Eyes

4. Vomit and the Zits - Suicide

5. Vomit and the Zits - What the Hell

6. Porcelain Forehead - Cold Steak

7. Absurds - Moral Feedback

8. Absurds - Futur's Nature

9. Genetic Control - Suburban Life

10. Direct Action - Hate Generation

11. American Devices - Spontaneous Combustion

12. The Nils - Call of the Wild

13. Red Shift - Underflesh

14. Iago Neon - Preliterate Robot

15. Morbid Fiesta - Le Nul Parfait

16. No Policy - News or Propaganda

17. Does not Equal - Emotion 9