Flyer - Saturday, June 20th, 2015

Nick White (a.k.a. Smash) is in town to launch his new book on the period of music in Toronto between 1979 and 1984. Situated in one of the worst economic times with political crises abound, culture responded. Garnering musical influences from the UK and the States, Nick looks at what these bands brought to Toronto by way of influences. He starts out with the Clash's show at the O'Keefe Centre and what punk rock looked like in a world music context which threw open the doors to all sorts of music experimentation which are around today. We talk about fractured scenes, but this was the apex or the blueprint for when it all happened. Toronto being a receptive music market soaked it all in and spat it back out with an underground scene that has scene little by way of recognition. Nick takes you through the bands like the Rent Boys, the Dave Howard Singers, Breeding Ground, Kinetic Ideals, V (pre Parachute Club), Hunger Project (Pre-Cowboy Junkies), the Hi-Fi's (Pre Blue Rodeo), the Rheostatics, The Mods, Truths and Rights, Lillian Allen, Third World....The list is endless. Nick also takes us into the world of the haunts where the musicians honed their sounds like at the 291, the Bev, the Cameron House, The Cultural Centre and all sorts of places. He explores how various mediums started up like zines and campus community radio, CFNY, as a result of being shut out of mainstream media. And he gives great insight into what touring bands brought like U2, Echo and the Bunnymen, Killing Joke, the Specials, The Jam, Madness, the Buzzcocks. It's all here. Flirst hand accounts with gonzo journalism which is beyond dedication but borders on fanaticism, which demonstrates the fan part of fanzine. With photos from his brother Simon, some of which appeared in Toronto Calling five years prior but so many more in this book, it is like a more cut and past version of Trouble in the Camera Club but the next chapter to follow.  Nick will be at the Rivoli between 1:00m and 4:00pm playing some of the music captured in the Smash it up comps to also give you a flavour of the sounds of the time.

Zine - Stir It Up

Stir It Up looks like a version of Nick Smash's Smash It Up. Stir It Up is pretty close in name and would be a clever play on the name Smash It Up. And there is lots of reggae content inside this issue which justifies the Bob Marley song title. In fact there is a review of a Bob Marley tribute concert inside that took place at a club that I have never heard of called Fourth World (167 Church Street). The show took place on May 17th which is close to Bob marley's birthday and featured Toronto reggae acts Truths and Rights, 20th Century Rebels, and Leroy Sibbles.

There is other reggae content like the intro and quick interview with a white reggae band called the Customers. There is a piece on another little known band Bloodfire. And there is an interview with the drummer from Steel Pulse, which may be the same interview as the one found in Rebel Music.

Interestingly, this issue also features a lot of punk bands that had reggae influences like Stiff Little Fingers or had interesting bass sounds like Gang of Four. The zine starts out with an interview with JJ Burnell from the Stranglers who I learned recently tried to play bass like he was performing at a Jamaican dancehall. The interviewer wanted to find out how much they were into UFO theories with the Meninblack theme. But JJ really wanted to discuss the validity of sub sonic sounds which is really about getting back to his thoughts on bass playing when you think about it.

There is a handwritten interview with Andy Gill who plays guitar in Gang of Four. They played a number of times in Toronto and this show was on Canada Day in 1981.

There is a review on a show that closed the Edge, which had a certain Last Pogo symmetry to it because it was he garys and it was the club they went to after they left the Horseshoe which was signified by that Last Pogo show.

There is an interview with Teardrop Explodes that looks like it is printed on fullscap and the quality is difficult to read. Someone had access to school equipment. There is a review section which fits in with a lot of new wave releases that came out at the time. I totally enjoyed reliving those and they included reviews of the Cramps, the Stray Cats, Killing Joke, Kraftwerk, Simple Minds, Pig Bag, Siouxie and the Banshees, Wasted Youth, Dead or Alive and Basement 5, which is the first review I have ever read of Basement 5. This demontrates how broad the spectrum of punk was back then. It also explains the interview with Kinetic Ideals which is the only interview i have read of the band. They were a new wave band from Mississauga, who had their own release and I would see their flyers when I was first getting into punk. And this is one of the things that I really appreciate about the zine. it covers lots of old Toronto punk including ads for old punk stores like the Record Peddler or Vortex or even Hot Wax, which I never heard of.

There is a great piece on a Stiff Little Fingers show that sounds like it was a regional appearance because kids from Montreal came down to see it. The show was at the El Mocambo and the piece spends a lot of time slagging the bouncers who weren't letting kids in. Some of those kids started a fire in the back alley of the club and the fire department got called, but it didn't seem to effect the show. The show happened on Monday June 29th (1981).

This issue also has the best interview that i have ever read with Vancouver's DOA. The interview has Joey Shithead, Randy Rampage, Dave Gregg, and Chuck Biscuits.

There is also an interview with a little known band rom Pittsburgh called Carsickness. They came up to the play with the Fall.

Thanks to Dhaibid James (Moondog Ballroom) for the loan of the issue to scan and put up.