Flyer - Friday October 23, 1981

Flyer - Wednesday April 29, 1981

Flyer - Saturday March 21, 1981

Zine - Smash It Up, December 1980

 

Smash It Up was a Toronto punk fanzine. This issue came out in December 1980. This issues starts out with a report about local bands by Randy Swagger, which included information on the Points, the Sharks, the Government, the Demics, Martha and the Muffins, the Civilians, Teenage Head, Blank Generation, the Spoons, the B-Girls, the Secrets, True Confessions, the Viletones, Tyranna, and the Bop Cats.

The first interview is with the Slits where they wind up talking about Sid Vicious death, which had just happened.

There is an interview with Martha Johnson at a Hamilton show, where she sheds some light on how crappy it is to be signed to major label. I wish she had more space to elaborate.

There is an article on Ultravox which was done around a show they played in Toronto supporting "Vienna". I didn't realize that Midge Ure was in the Rich Kids and was offered the guitarist spot for the Pistols when Steve Jones left. This all seems weird talking about him as a guitarist in light of Ultravox being a synth band.

There is a review of a Joan Jett and the Blackhearts show with lots of photos.

There is an amazingly designed piece on a Siouxsie and the Banshees show on November 18th, 1980 at the Music Hall.

There is part one of an interview with Bangkok who were a new band that featured Mickey Skin of the Curse on vocals.

There is a back page ad for Edge Records which I am guessing had something to do with the Garys and were reported to have been releasing the Sharks record.

 

Thinks appears thanks to the archive of Dhaibid James, host of Moondog Ballroom, also on CIUT 89.5FM.

 



Flyer - Friday December 12 - Saturday December 13, 1980

Zine - Smash It Up, November 1980

This issue of Smash It Up is all about politics. This issue came out in November 1980.

It starts out with an article on the KKK trying to start up a chapter in Toronto and the writer calls for a media blackout of the organization.

This article is followed by a piece on Rock Against Racism which looked at how the organization evolved in Toronto. They mentioned the English roots to the organization with bands like Elvis Costello and Gang of Four and the Specials and the Clash. And then there was references to local punk bands like the Sharks who write a tribute to Albert Johnson called "Metro's Number one Problem". And Young Lions had a sing with the lyrics "One little nazi is one too many".

There is an interview with the leader of the Young Communist League of Canada, Sylvie Baillargeon.

There is a piece on Leon Trotsky.

And there is a note about a cancellation of a Clash gig and Maple Leaf Gardens that Teenage Head was supposed to play.

This issue appears here courtesy of Dhaibid James's archival collection. Dhaibid is host of the Moondog's Ballroom on CIUT 89.5 FM.

V/A " No Pedestrains" LP

This was the secon Toronto comp that contained punk bands on it. New Wave was started to impact the scene so you get abnds like the Sharjs and True Confessions, but you also get the Arson, the Secrets, Tyranna, and Zr04. Here is the back cover which had lots of awesome photos.

The songs on here are:

1. The Sharks - Get off the Radio

2. Winston Hancock - Girls, Girls

3. The Secrets - All the Words

4. Arson - We've Gotta Get Out of This Place

5. S.S. - Working Girl

6. Winston Hancock - Leavin' Tonight

7. Tyranna - Back Off Baby

8. Zr04 - Blood

9. True Confessions - Fourth Base

10. The Secrets - I'll Cry Tomorrow

Flyer - Friday, October 17th - Sunday, October 26th, 1980

Contributed by CRAZYSTEVEGOOF@HOTMAIL.COM

Zine - Smash It Up

This is another issue of Smash It Up that came out somewhere in the fall of 1980. The editorial on the second mentions that this is the eigth issue to come out in the year so I imagine it would have been out in September or October. The cover is in Russian and in true Smash It Up fashion fills a need to play with the name of the publication. It was a provocative thing to do given that 1980 was the height of the Cold War being played out through a nuclear arms race. The zine plays up like a Russian issue that has been translated. The circulation of the zine was somewhere between 25 and 50 copies and was sold for $0.20 a copy.

This issue starts out with an interview with Gary Numan at the Holiday Inn, which was more like a shrug off. On the same page is a playlist and a list of new releases that had just come out.

The next feature is a piece on heavy metal with brief descriptions of bands like Sabbath and Priest and Saxon and KISS.

The next piece is about a band named the Civilians and they were about to release a record on Star Records (the label that put out the first Forgotten Rebels LP). The Garys thought they were too metal so they never booked them.

There was an interview with the Demics just after the album had been released. One of the big concerns by that record gets asked which is about the album sounding too overproduced.

There is a piece on the Sharks that took four attempts to get. The inteviewer spent some time trying to interview the band (four times) and there are some answers but different members in some of those times. But at the end the interview read a bit like the Tyranna interview that followed. I liked te Tyranna interview better.

There is a review section on punk films and one of those was a showing of a film named Crash 'n Burn about the club in Toronto that was shown in an art gallery. There was reviews of "D.O.A.", "Punking Out", "The Great Rock 'n Roll Swindle" and some reggae films like "The Harder they Come" and "Dread, Beat and Blood". There is also a big piece on a film which had the Clash in it called "Preacher Man".

There is also some great record reviews which includes one of the Talking Heads "Remain in Light".

The back cover had a neat poster photo of a band named the Feds that promotes a new single and a show for November at the Edge.

Thanks to Dhaibid James of Moondog Ballroom for loaning us the issue to scan.

Flyer - Friday September 26 - Saturday September 27, 1980

Flyer - Monday July 28 - Thursday July 31, 1980

Flyer - Friday, June 27th, 1980

Contributed by CRAZYSTEVEGOOF@HOTMAIL.COM

Flyer - Saturday June 14, 1980

Flyer - Saturday April 26, 1980

Flyer - Friday March 21 - Saturday March 22, 1980

Flyer - Monday October 1 - Saturday October 6, 1979

Here is a flyer for shows at larry's Hideaway for the first week of october back in 1979. It is amazing to me that you could see punk bands every night of the week. Platinum Blonde played the weekend.