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10 bands who put the Canadian punk scene on the map

Tim Stegall — Mon, 24 May 2021 15:55:09 +0000

Though all but forgotten by this point—save for documentary films like excellent Vancouver overview Bloodied But Unbowed and recent Teenage Head retrospective Picture My Face—Canada once boasted one of the world’s best punk scenes. The quality/quantity of Great White North pogo-rock acts, plus their music’s sheer ferocity, belied our neighbors’ more mild-mannered and civilized reputation. For aggression, attitude, commitment and rowdiness, Canada at least matched the U.S.—D.O.A. for Dead Boys, Teenage Head for Ramones.

Though Montreal and other provinces boasted their quotient, Canadian punk’s twin poles were Vancouver and Toronto. The entire nation’s spiritual equivalent of the Stooges or Velvet Underground has to be Hamilton, Ontario’s avant-garage unit Simply Saucer. Began in 1972 by enigmatic singer/guitarist Edgar Breau, they oozed a loud, rowdy mishmash of the Stooges and such latter-day electro-psych outfits as Hawkwind via such charmingly titled angular riff explosions with power electronics as “Bullet Proof Nothing” and “Dance The Mutation.” They lasted long enough to slot into late ‘70s Toronto punk bills, a demo session cut with future U2 megaproducer Daniel Lanois and his brother Bill eventually forming a chunk of posthumous release Cyborgs Revisited.

Teenage Head

“Yesterday I needed love/Today I need some hate,” singer Frankie Venom snarled on Teenage Head’s May 1978 debut 45, “Picture My Face.” But it’s difficult imagining who could hate Ontario’s prime party punks. After conquering Toronto’s nascent punk scene, they dominated Canada with their loud mix of the Dolls with Ramones energy and pop smarts, and the swagger of ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll, Gord Lewis’ ultra-crunchy guitar goosing Venom’s perfectly adenoidal vocals. 1979’s self-titled debut LP and 1980’s Frantic City both went gold, the latter spawning hits “Let’s Shake” and “Somethin’ On My Mind.” June 1980’s Ontario Place gig resulted in a riot, garnering nationwide headlines and a ban on future rock gigs at the Toronto venue. Teenage Head persist to the present, even surviving Venom’s 2008 death, Lewis still strangling his Les Paul Special.

D.O.A.

The Skulls split into two factions in 1978, forming what became Vancouver’s signature bands—D.O.A. and the Subhumans. Led by singer/guitarist Joe Keithley (aka Joey Shithead), D.O.A. crossed the Clash’s fearsome political commitment with the hell-raising skitkicking spirit of the Damned, with an extra dollop of aggression courtesy their hard-rock background. They helped popularize the term hardcore, though they seldom thrashed. Their tenth lineup come 1981—Shithead, bassist Randy Rampage, Keith Moon-in-miniature drummer Chuck Biscuits and guitarist Dave Gregg—was an unimpeachable rock ‘n’ roll band of inhuman power and energy. Shithead keeps D.O.A. active to this day, in between commitments on the Burnaby city council.

The Viletones

“We’re like a hit of junk for our fans,” Viletones guitarist Freddie Pompeii explained to the cameras of The Last Pogo, Colin Brunton’s 1978 documentary on the closing of early Toronto punk venue the Horseshoe Tavern. Formed in ‘77 by dangerous glamor-puss vocalist Steve “Natzee Dog” Leckie, the Viletones strove to be Canada’s most dangerous band, rivaling the Dead Boys in the race to become the Stooges. Lester Bangs later recounted in the April 29, 1981 edition of the Village Voice a July 1977 CBGB date: “This guy Natzee Dog hung from the rafters, crawled all over the stage, and hurled himself onto the first row ‘til his body was one huge sore.” Snotfests such as “Screaming Fist” equaled the search-and-destroy theatrics.

The Subhumans

The other half of the bisected Skulls—charismatic singer Brian “Wimpy Roy” Goble and powerhouse drummer Ken “Dimwit” Montgomery, Biscuits’ older brother—teamed up with bassist Gerry “Useless” Hannah and guitarist Mike Graham to create Vancouver’s other great punk hope, the Subhumans. Not to be confused with England’s later anarcho-punk outfit, these original Subhumans embraced a similar brand of raucous left-wing rockin’ and rowdy hedonism to D.O.A.’s. And, oh, did they have songs: “Oh Canaduh” paid potent disrespect to the national anthem, “Fuck You” lifted two middle fingers to the entire square world and “Slave To My Dick” skewered toxic masculinity to a riff that would have made Blue Öyster Cult proud. Hannah left the band in ‘81, committing so fiercely to his political activism that he served time as one of the Squamish Five, sentenced for bombing an environmentally destructive hydroelectric substation on Vancouver Island and a Litton factory manufacturing parts for the American cruise missile.

Forgotten Rebels

Yet another byproduct of Hamilton, the Forgotten Rebels centered around singer Mike “Mickey DeSadist” Grelecki, an unreconstructed glam rocker who stuck his tongue out at the world, right through his cheek. As he preened in exaggerated rock star fashion before the revved-up glitter rock of various and sundry Rebels lineups, he didn’t push buttons—he took a jackhammer to them. “Bomb The Boats” gazed in Archie Bunker fashion at Vietnamese refugees. “Elvis Is Dead” flashed punkabilly raw as it advised, “Spend your money on our records instead!” Then there’s ultimate “party anthem” “Surfin’ On Heroin”: “Got my kid brother hooked yesterday/Pimping him pays for my habit today.” Forgotten Rebels still smirk as they sneer at you to this very day.

The Modernettes

Shits guitarist John Armstrong changed his name to Buck Cherry—a bastardization of Chuck Berry—before the band became the Monitors, realizing there was limited commercial potential in their original moniker. Then every Monitor fled White Rock for Vancouver, where Cherry essentially became to Johnny Thunders what Ricky Nelson was to Elvis—a slightly cleaned up though still rockin’ avatar—first in Active Dog, then in the Modernettes. Teamed with girlfriend Mary Wichar (morbidly renamed Mary Jo Kopechne, for reasons only Ted Kennedy’s press agent would understand) and drummer John McAdams (now dubbed “Jughead,” for his resemblance to the Archie comics/Riverdale character), Cherry proved he had a spiffin’ line in high-speed/raunch-guitar pop songs on 1979’s six-track Teen City EP. The Jan & Dean-esque “Barbra” proved especially enduring, much to his chagrin.

Dishrags

“Because we were young and because we were female, I think we got special treatment in that we were kind of a novelty act,” Dishrags singer/guitarist Jade Blade recounted in Vancouver punk doc Bloodied But Unbowed. “So people would put us on bills [such as opening the Clash’s first North American gig in January 1979 at the Commodore Ballroom]. But on the other hand, it also meant that we didn’t get taken all that seriously. We would never get soundchecks, and we got crappy equipment. People wouldn’t let us use their drums or amps.” Which is supremely unfair. Three Victoria, B.C. high school students hugely influenced by the Ramones, the Dishrags opened Vancouver’s first official punk show with the Furies at Japanese Hall, July 30, 1977. Records such as 1979 EP Past Is Past proved Blade, bassist Dale Powers and drummer Scout possessed a talent for grimy pop songs, driven by Blade’s grungy guitar and Mary Weiss-with-a-headful-of-ennui vocals. One of punk history’s most important great lost bands.

Pointed Sticks

Named for a line in the Monty Python skit “Self-Defense Against Fresh Fruit,” Pointed Sticks were Vancouver’s version of the Buzzcocks. Their specialty: airtight pop songs delivered with maximum aggression—easy when your drummer is ex-Subhuman Dimwit and Bill Napier-Hemy’s chainsaw guitar is a primary instrumental color. When you add ex-Shit/Monitor Gord Nicholl’s ’60s garage organ and Nick Jones’ elfin singing on such should’ve-been-hits as “Apologies” and “Marching Song,” you get a group tough enough to share bills with D.O.A., with enough teen appeal to be on the cover of Tiger Beat.

Young Canadians

Originally the K-Tels, Young Canadians didn’t ooze D.O.A. or the Subhumans’ brute force and profane poetry, nor possess either the Modernettes or Pointed Sticks’ perfect hooks. But bassist Jim Bescott and drummer Barry Taylor composed possibly the scene’s best rhythm section this side of D.O.A.’s Biscuits and Rampage. And leader Art Bergmann was hands-down B.C.’s best guitarist and songwriter. “Hawaii,” their debut EP’s title track, was the “hit.” But Bergmann’s gifts were best displayed on closing track “No Escape,” eerily capturing mainstream Vancouver’s disdain for its budding punk scene: “This town’s frustrations are scrawled all over these walls/It’s a new minority and how does it feel to be so small?” Those keen observations made Bergmann a major figure in ‘80s/’90s Canadian rock when he went solo.

The Diodes

Four Ontario College of Art & Design students who united in October 1976 and played their first gig opening for Talking Heads three months later, the Diodes pioneered Toronto punk in many ways. Along with manager Ralph Alfonso, they opened the Crash ‘n’ Burn, Toronto’s first dedicated punk venue—essentially their practice space—in the summer of ‘77, providing the city’s nascent pogo-rock acts and out-of-towners such as Dead Boys a place to play. They were also the first local punk act to ink with a major label, Canada’s branch of Columbia Records. Records like absolute anthem “Tired Of Waking Up Tired” and their teenage-lobotomy cover of Paul Simon’s “Red Rubber Ball” exploded with John Catto’s chain-drive Stooges guitarwork and singer Paul Robinson’s Bryan Ferry-esque croon. The Diodes hit ears catchier than hell without losing an iota of raw power.

15 artists who draw influence from the Clash’s dynamic punk spirit

Tim Stegall — Thu, 20 May 2021 15:55:14 +0000

Some promo copywriter at the Clash’s American label, Epic Records, came up with the questionable slogan “19 songs by the only band that matters” for the sticker that appeared on the face of 1980’s U.S. release of London Calling. While singer/guitarist Joe Strummer, lead guitarist Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Topper Headon didn’t coin the phrase, they also refrained from protesting it. This act gained them enormous mistrust in certain quarters.

True, there was a good deal of self-mythologizing to the Clash. Just listen to tracks such as “Clash City Rockers,” “Last Gang In Town” or “Four Horsemen.” It was a trait absorbed from glam heroes Mott The Hoople, one of Jones’ teenage obsessions. But the Clash truly were more than a mere punk band or even a rock ‘n’ roll band. They really seemed larger than life, especially if you were a teenager catching one of their first late ’70s U.S. tours. It felt like you were getting a cool, really loud soundtrack to lessons in how to walk, talk, dress and comb your hair. It’s as if they told you, “Maybe try wearing your belt buckle over your hip, like Paul. Oh, there’s this music called rockabilly made back in the ‘50s that you should check out—look in your parents’ record collection. And here’s this killer sound from Jamaica called reggae—we listen to it constantly. Here’s what’s going on in the world—keep an eye on your leaders! They are not to be trusted! Also, here’s a list of books you should probably read.”

It was a lot like this video:

There was no one like the Clash. There’s been no one like them since. But plenty have tried. Some still are trying. That says something—the Clash are enduring and eternal. Here are 15 of the best lives touched by the Clash, in their brief lifetime and beyond.

Stiff Little Fingers

Being British, the Clash’s most immediate effect was in the United Kingdom. Their passionate commitment to their sociopolitical point of view and their explosive musical attack came across even more effectively live. Yet, there was something disingenuous about their blowing into Belfast, Northern Ireland for an Oct. 20, 1977 gig at Ulster Hall, finding the gig canceled due to the insurance company pulling out, and posing for publicity photos in front of bombsites and tanks. (They played a stormy gig at Dublin’s Trinity College the next night.) Stiff Little Fingers lived in Belfast. It was their lives before which the Clash were modeling. It went into singer/guitarist Jake Burns’ songs—tales of the effects of a generations-long war for which no one remembered the root cause (“Suspect Device,” “Alternative Ulster,” “Bloody Sunday”), of feeling entrapped in a nowhere town (“Gotta Gettaway,” “At The Edge,” “Breakout”), how authority represses the youth (“Law And Order”). Those ringing lyrics were set to a good approximation of the Clash’s debut LP, with Ireland’s lilting melodic sense factored in. Plus, Burns had even more of a sandpapered rasp than Strummer. SLF even embraced the Clash’s punky reggae amalgamation via blistering covers of such roots material as Bob Marley’s “Johnny Was” or even the Specials’ anti-racism screed “Doesn’t Make It Alright.” Burns made his band’s debt to the Clash explicit after Strummer’s death via the track “Strummerville” on 2003’s Guitar And Drum.

The Specials

“Music gets political when there are new ideas in music,” Specials founder/keyboardist Jerry Dammers told The Guardian in 2008. “Punk was innovative, so was ska, and that was why bands such as the Specials and the Clash could be political.” Indeed, no British band embodied so many of the Clash’s principles as well as the former Coventry Automatics, the name they were called when they toured with them in 1978. For a time, they were managed by Clash manager Bernie Rhodes, though not happily according to 1979 Specials debut single “Gangsters.” But no band this side of the Clash embodied the fusion of reggae’s earliest iteration, peppy early ‘60s ska, with punk guitars and aggression more than the Specials. (In fact, they may have even got an idea or two from the Clash’s ska-tinged remake of Toots And The Maytals’ “Pressure Drop.”) But the Specials’ fervent anti-racism, down to their multi-racial lineup and fierce anthems such as “Doesn’t Make It Alright”? Don’t say Joe, Mick, Paul and Topper didn’t have an effect on them.

Red Rockers

The Clash’s American influence was significant after they came over twice in 1979. “You felt a different way coming out of that gig,” Henry Rollins said of seeing them Feb. 15, 1979 in his native Washington, D.C. “That night I went home and I actually physically threw out… maybe about 25% of my records after I saw the Clash.” This is likely what also happened to New Orleans quartet the Red Rockers. Their 1981 debut full-length, Condition Red, is a great lost American punk classic, featuring 12 aggro-guitar shouters such as “Guns Of Revolution” and “Dead Heroes,” whose songwriting credits you’d swear should read “J. Strummer – M. Jones.” All existing photos, swaggering in spray-painted shirts and tight trousers, could be Clash publicity pics. Condition Red’s sleeve even resembles the Clash’s 1977 debut LP. None of this is a bad thing.

Black Market Baby

“Most definitely,” Black Market Baby vocalist Boyd Farrell affirms when AP asked if the Clash inspired the D.C. punk squad he led from 1980-1988. “I saw them back in 1979 [likely the same Ontario Theatre gig Rollins attended] and said to myself, ‘Now that’s what a band should sound and look like.’” It’s audible in such roaring anthems as “White Boy Funeral” and “Potential Suicide.” It’s also visible in the tough all-for-one/one-for-all unity displayed in promo pics—that same band-as-a-gang vibe the Clash exuded in full effect. They cut a last-gang-in-town swathe through hardcore bands almost 10 years their junior, and still do.

Social Distortion

“I was watching the Clash,” Social Distortion mainman Mike Ness told Alternative Press in 2019. “They dressed up cool. I wanted to be like them…They took pride in showmanship.” Seven years before that, he told Denver alt-weekly Westword, “Maybe we didn’t have quite the global message that the Clash had, but the Clash wanted to reach the world. And that’s what I wanted to do.” Defiant anthems such as “Telling Them” and “It’s The Law” flashed more than a little of “London’s Burning,” and there was Jones’ DNA in Ness’ lead guitar style. Certainly, the Americana roots strains prevalent on London Calling must have given Ness license to bring country and rockabilly into everything he’s done post-Mommy’s Little Monster. But if you want to hear the Clash’s influence on Social Distortion made flesh, dig their 2005 cover of London Calling’s “Death Or Glory” for the Lords Of Dogtown soundtrack.

Billy Bragg

“When I heard the Clash, it swept away all my dreams of playing in a stadium and replaced them with dreams of changing the world by playing very loud, fast songs,” Billy Bragg explained to Entertainment Weekly in 2000. “Now I realize I was naive to think the Clash could change the world by singing about it. But it wasn’t so much their lyrics as what they stood for and the actions they took.” Hence, we see the one-man electric troubadour tirelessly ranting against inequality, racism and division. Then there’s gestures like performing an entire set of Clash songs with the Levellers on Strummer’s birthday in 2004 or his pastiche “Old Clash Fan Fight Song.”

The Pogues

Yes, there was more than a little Clash to the Pogues. The Celtic folk-punks’ leader Shane MacGowan is visible in the audience in several photographs of early Clash gigs and was the “victim” of getting his earlobe “bitten off” that’s become both Clash and MacGowan legend over time. Clearly, the Clash’s gang-like presentation inspired the Pogues. Then there’s also the use of roots material as ballast for such rabble-rousing anthems as “Transmetropolitan” and “Streams Of Whiskey,” as well as MacGowan’s man-of-the-people persona, which is pure Strummer. The connection was cemented with the Clash singer’s frequent strapping-on of his trusty old, battered Telecaster to join the Pogues for Clash oldies such as “I Fought The Law” or “London Calling.” He even deputized on Pogues tours after MacGowan quit.

Manic Street Preachers

“Without them, the Manics would be a completely different band,” Manic Street Preachers singer/guitarist James Dean Bradfield told the NME in 2015. Watching a television retrospective of punk-era footage from the Tony Wilson-hosted So It Goes program gave teenage Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore and Richey Edwards their first glimpse of the Clash via typically wired, explosive 1977 footage of “What’s My Name” and “Garageland.” “It was earth-shattering,” Bradfield continued, still awestruck. “Politics looked glamorous for the first time ever.” It factored into their early glam-punk image (white skinny jeans and spray-painted women’s blouses) and man-the-barricades anthems. Even their later paramilitary style echoed the Clash’s Combat Rock era. But if those aren’t obvious signposts, how about frequent live covers of “What’s My Name” or “Train In Vain”?

Green Day

“One thing I can’t do is do anything half-assed,” Billie Joe Armstrong told Rolling Stone in 2013. “I want to make sure everything is right, that the song is fully realized. I think of…the first Clash album—those songs are fully realized, well played. You can almost hear them doing it in a practice room…I want to make sure that while we’re evolving, we still sound like a unit.” The Clash influence on Green Day became blatantly obvious 2004’s politically charged American Idiot: blockade-smashing political anthems decrying the Bush administration, dressed in big Gibson block-chords and matching red-and-black stage outfits festooned with stars. Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool had gone from chronicling generational angst in singsong fashion to registering their dissatisfaction with the powers that be and adopting a heroic stance onstage. And if all this isn’t evidence enough for you of Green Day’s Clash influence, perhaps live renditions of “I Fought The Law” or “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” (as the Coverups) are. Or Armstrong’s one-man COVID-19-era cover of “Police On My Back.”

Rancid

“There’s a rather stupid, obvious comparison,” OG Rancid drummer Brett Reed scoffed in a 1998 article from Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call on fourth LP Life Won’t Wait, re: frequent press parallels with the Clash. “We have a very unique sound. I love the Clash, but it’s sophomoric to compare us. They don’t really do two-toned ska or fast punk rock.” Well, they actually did, Brett. And so did Rancid. Your band also covered Clash debut album staple “Cheat” for the tribute album Burning London. And then there’s Tim Armstrong signing Strummer to Hellcat Records and all the London Calling/Sandinista!-like genre-hopping on Life Won’t Wait. The complaint sounds rather disingenuous. Besides, Jones himself gave us his endorsement of Rancid.

U.S. Bombs

“It’s just the old basic stuff that we used to listen to in skate parks, the stuff that still has meaning,” skate legend Duane Peters said to Oklahoma City’s The Oklahoman of his trad-punk group U.S. Bombs in 2000. “The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Chelsea, the Ruts, all that old twang.” If it wasn’t apparent in Peters’ soused-Strummer persona or Kerry Martinez’s crashing Les Paul chords that the Clash were their main man, or in their spray-painted stagewear, perhaps the December 2017 release Clash Tribute made it more obvious. Absolutely dead-faithful renditions of “Death Or Glory” and “Straight To Hell” should be all the evidence needed.

Jesse Dayton

“I saw the Clash in San Antonio at the [Majestic] Theater,” latter-day outlaw country singer/guitarist Jesse Dayton remarked to Your Punk Professor in 2019. “That changed my life.” The Beaumont, Texas native—who has scrubbed Telecaster for everyone from Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash to X, and made horror movies with pal Rob Zombie—learned to weave American roots genres and demon energy into his hard-as-nails honky tonk sound that night. He’s applied it to all of his endeavors since, including transforming the Clash’s reggaefied “Bankrobber” into a Bobby Fuller Four-style Tex-Mex rocker on 2019’s Mixtape Volume 1 covers collection.

The Libertines

It was obvious the moment the Libertines arrived fully formed in the early ‘00s that there was more than a smidge of the Clash to Albion’s greatest musical ambassadors. Guitarist Carl Barat claimed to the NME that his sister babysat Strummer’s kids, and he’d met him as a child. (“It would have been great to meet him when I knew who he was, though.”) Whether this was a tall tale or not, Jones recognized enough of his old band in the deeply romantic skiffle-punks to produce their first two superb LPs and even join them onstage on occasion to fumble through a Clash classic or two. “I think Mick recognized the parallels in mine and Peter [Doherty]’s writing partnership and how a certain way of life manifests itself as a band,” Barat ruminated.

Riverboat Gamblers

Though most look at Austin punks Riverboat Gamblers and instantly think “MC5 fronted by Lux Interior,” it should be obvious that there’s some Clash in their DNA. Though they aren’t political except maybe in the most subtle of ways, their total-assault live presentation and sheer aggression are pure Clash, alongside their willingness to bend the form on later albums like Underneath The Owl. But mostly, what the Gamblers got from the Clash was their usage of guitars. “We think about what two guitars do all the time, mainly because of them,” Ian MacDougall, half of the Gamblers guitar team, tells AP. “Also the mix of Tele and Les Paul.” “Yeah, absolutely,” Fadi El-Assad, the other half of the guitar duo, says of the Clash’s influence. “The back-and-forth, call-and-response guitars I definitely lifted.”

Anti-Flag

“The Clash is definitely our favorite band ever,” Anti-Flag singer Justin Sane huffed during a set of Clash covers at Berlin’s Ramones Museum in 2009. “Billy Bragg said the Clash would not be a political band without Joe Strummer, and Anti-Flag would not be a political band without Joe Strummer.” As if the pulverizing rendition of “Career Opportunities” that followed wasn’t evidence enough, nor the mostly Clash covers Complete Control Sessions EP. But if you don’t hear their fierce social justice anthems and two-guitar attack, ignore their unified look and that frontline charging the stage’s lip and not think “the Clash”? You could stand a cold shot of awareness.

10 influential Australian punk bands who defined the nation’s current sounds

Tim Stegall — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:55:16 +0000

“Detroit is the capital of Australia.” That phrase got thrown around a lot in ’80s American fanzines as our underground discovered Australian punk’s loud-and-aggressive charms. The basic sound: U.S. protopunk, especially of the Stooges/MC5 variety, mixed with ’60s garage, played with thermonuclear energy through modern heavy metal amplification. There was also an especial appreciation for the New York Dolls’ rowdy glam. It was as stripped-down and unpretentious as rock ’n’ roll gets, even more so than other punk scenes. The national motto seemed to be: Forget fashion, let’s rock!

Radio Birdman

Best heard on: The Essential Radio Birdman

Radio Birdman were a beast. They blazed white hot, always—no indifference in their tank. Tek fired off fusillades of crispy single notes from an Epiphone Crestwood he’d bought off MC5’s Fred “Sonic” Smith, interlocking with Canadian teenager Chris “Klondike” Masuak’s own expert guitar work. Drummer Ron Keeley and bassist Warwick Gilbert kept tempos stoked high, as Younger lunged at the audience like Iggy Pop’s Australian cousin doing all of Mick Jagger’s 1965 moves. Keyboardist Pip Hoyle added Doors-like filigrees to what was otherwise a driving guitar-based assault. When local pubs stopped hiring them due to their attitude and volume, they opened their own club, the Oxford Funhouse. They built a scene around themselves, leaving audiences agog with their Detroit-meets-Blue Öyster Cult blitzkriegs. On the back of debut album Radios Appear and shred-rock anthems such as “New Race,” their virus spread across the face of Australia. They hit England in early 1978, but the more fashion-oriented punk scene there sneered at their dressed-down long hair and denim. Their second album, Living Eyes, was tracked at Wales’ famed Rockfield Studios. It wouldn’t be released until 1981, three years after Radio Birdman limped home and broke up. They left in their wake dozens of local bands who wanted to at least assume the mantle.

The Saints

Best heard on: (I’m) Stranded

The Saints are the other undeniable opening shot in Australia’s punk revolution. As if to prove punk had no single origin point but simultaneously erupted in several locations, their 1976 “(I’m) Stranded” single was recorded almost concurrently with the Ramones’ debut album, bearing the same furious tempos, Black & Decker guitar work and raucous vocals. But as much as it unconsciously echoed the Ramones, it also resembled an old Pretty Things LP played at 45 RPM through a distortion pedal. England beckoned, then sneered at the Saints’ lack of spiky hair and leather jackets. The band didn’t think much of England, either. Singer Chris Bailey performed with an intentional laconic indifference, as guitarist Ed Kuepper wondered if there was life beyond a Gibson SG and a maxed-out MXR Distortion+ pedal flogged within an inch of their lives. Their second LP, Eternally Yours, featured the occasional horn section. Such new material as “Know Your Product” displayed a healthy cynicism of marketing and pre-fab youth “rebellion.” As did rivals Radio Birdman, the Saints limped home. Bailey carried on with various lineups, barely acknowledging their punk beginnings, as Kuepper charged into post-punk territory with Laughing Clowns. But nothing equaled the shock and awe of “(I’m) Stranded.”

The Victims

Best heard on: The Victims

“We were just trying to keep away the boredom and the feeling of being isolated and away from everything exciting in the world,” future Hoodoo Gurus singer/guitarist Dave Faulkner said of Perth’s Victims when interviewed by major rock station Double J about the city’s pioneering punks. “Because all the music we loved was far away, it was never gonna come near us. We knew that much.” In those 43 words, the author of Oz rock classics such as “I Want You Back” perfectly summarized why/how punk happened, especially in isolated areas. Faulkner (as “Dave Flick”), fellow Hoodoo Guru-to-come James Baker (drums) and Dave (“Rudolph V,” bass) Cardwell’s response? Form a band informed by U.S. punk heroes the Flamin’ Groovies, the New York Dolls/Heartbreakers axis and the Stooges. Through the inexpensive equipment they could afford, they came off as crude yet fun as second-string Britpunks like Eater. Through sheer nerves, they bashed their songs at proto-hardcore velocity. And they issued one of Oz punk’s absolute classic singles, the frequent punk compilation star “Television Addict.”

The Hitmen

Best heard on: Hitmen

The band, initially Johnny And The Hitmen, began in 1977, essentially Birdman minus Tek and Younger. Masuak’s high school friend Johnny Kannis moved Birdman’s slot MC to frontman. Upon Masuak’s return from Birdman’s fatal 1978 English tour, he and Kannis reformed the Hitmen full time. They ultimately folded hard-rock dynamics into Oz punk, with Masuak’s nimble lead guitar and Kannis’ larger-than-life stage persona pushed to the fore. They’ve existed off and on since, with Masuak exiting in 2015, relocating to Spain. Tunes such as “Bwana Devil” and “Didn’t Tell The Man” became much-revered staples of Australian punk rock.

The Scientists

Punk Scientists:

Swamp/Garage Scientists:

Best heard on: A Place Called Bad

Perth’s Scientists were essentially two very different bands playing completely contrasting music across their original nine-year history. When initially formed in 1978 by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Kim Salmon and Victims drummer Baker, they played a rockin’, melodic punk that resembled the best parts of the Flamin’ Groovies stapled onto the hull of Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers. Jumpin’ raunch-guitar thumpers such as “Last Night” or “Frantic Romantic” could power an entire city. From 1982 on, Salmon led an entirely new lineup specializing in a mutant psych/swamp/garage rock equally as valid. Killers such as “Swampland” and “We Had Love” smoked equivalently.

The New Christs

Best heard on: Divine Rites

Following Radio Birdman’s dissolution, singer Younger did a number of things, including lots of production work (including most of the remaining bands listed here) and fronting the Australian/Detroit supergroup the New Race—him, Tek and Gilbert from Birdman, plus Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton and MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson. But his longest-lived association is with the New Christs, existing on and off since 1980 in various lineups, including one featuring Masuak’s knife-edged guitar work. Their sound is powerful, grinding fuzz-drenched ’60s garage riffs through modern high-gain hard-rock amplification. When they’re particularly cooking, as on 1984 single “Like A Curse” and “Born Out Of Time,” they’re the greatest rock band alive.

Celibate Rifles

Best heard on: Roman Beach Party

With Radio Birdman resting in pieces from 1978, it would be down to Celibate Rifles, formed in ’79, to assume their mantle as kings of the Sydney Stomp. High school mates Dave Morris and Kent Steedman manned twin dogfight guitars—the latter wielding the most spastic wah-wah pedal this side of Ron Asheton—as Damien Lovelock exercised the world’s most laconic snarl at the center mic. Musically, tunes such as “Sometimes” and “Jesus On TV” resembled the old Birdman blitzkrieg machine-bolted with hardcore’s intensity and velocity. But Lovelock’s very adult lyrical concerns and a musical ambitiousness tattooed an original identity atop.

The Lime Spiders

Best heard on: Headcleaner

Yet more carbon monoxide punks huffing the spirit of ’60s garage in an anonymous carport in Sydney, formed in 1979. The Lime Spiders were more overtly ’60s-inspired than other bands, though their cribbed Standells and Count Five riffs were played with the delinquent ferocity of the Dead Boys. Atop an ever-shifting support cast crunching the bones of Nuggets-style psychedelia with metallic force, singer Mick Blood strutted with the snarling charmof the Seeds’ Sky Saxon. Caveman acid-punk singles such as “Slave Girl,” “Weirdo Libido” and “Out Of Control” were some of the hardest, catchiest rockers of the decade.

Hoodoo Gurus

Best heard on: Stoneage Romeos

Ex-Victims Faulkner and Baker reconvened with other punk scene vets in 1981 as Le Hoodoo Gurus initially. In Faulkner’s words, they desired to explore “all the music I’d shut off through punk.” ’60s pop and garage, psychedelia, hard rock—all ripe for the picking, fueled by punk attitude and guitars and a deadly American trash culture obsession. On 1984 debut Stoneage Romeos, they cranked out Cramps-oid necrophilia paeans (“Dig It Up”) and the New York Dolls-ish rocker “I Was A Kamikaze Pilot,” plus the greatest power-pop single ever, “I Want You Back.” And they’ve been refining that rockin’ melodicism since.

The Hard-Ons

Best heard on: Suck And Swallow: 25 Years 25 Songs

The final band in our survey also emerged from Sydney, yet founding guitarist Peter “Blackie” Black told this writer in July 2020 that the Saints were a bigger influence on the Hard-Ons than Radio Birdman. Certainly Kuepper’s heavily distorted blur-action chords are evident in the Hard-Ons’ barely controlled guitar roar. Through brilliant singles such as “Girl in The Sweater” and “All Set To Go,” Blackie, singing drummer Keish de Silva and bassist Ray Ahn fused a trashy ball of adenoidal surf-pop melodies, Ramones-meets-hardcore energy and what sounds like 10 daisy-chained MXR Distortion+s. The Hard-Ons’ skatecore pop made them Australia’s most commercially successful independent band.

10 essential punk bands to keep an eye on in 2020

Koltan Greenwood — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 17:55:02 +0000

2020 is rapidly approaching, which means this decade is coming to a close. Because we are coming closer to our generation’s roaring (or RAWRing) ’20s, let’s not get sad and instead take a look at some essential punk bands to watch in 2020.

Maybe punk isn’t exactly what Jay Gatsby was listening to, but we think we have more to look forward to this coming decade.

1. Green Day

This wouldn’t be an essential punk bands to watch list without including Green Day. With their new album, Father Of All Motherfuckers, being released in early February and the Hella Mega tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer kicking off later in the year, we’re stoked to see what they get up to. The iconic punkers just keep pumping out albums because they love it. Having already been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2015, this trio show no signs of slowing down as they approach their 50s.

2. NOFX

NOFX haven’t officially dropped a full-band album since First Ditch Effort in 2016, but with word from Fat Mike that the band are in the studio, things are looking good for a 2020 release. Fingers crossed we get some more content from NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub And Other Stories.

3. Alkaline Trio

Yes, we know Matt Skiba might be busy with blink-182, but Is This Thing Cursed? released in 2018, and Alkaline Trio have shown they’re capable of pumping out an album every two to three years. With Is This Thing Cursed? being their best album in a while (thanks to Dan Andriano really showing off his singer-songwriting chops), Skiba can afford to take a backseat with any newer albums, given his busy schedule.

4. Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker—The Little Band Who Could But Probably Would Rather Not—are touring more and more since 2017. This means nothing as Blake Schwarzenbach is in his 50s, and there’s been no mention of a new Jawbreaker album, but we can all keep our fingers crossed. We’ve seen them at Riot Fest and The Fest, and they still rip, so let’s hope 2020 is the year.

5. Taking Back Sunday

Taking Back Sunday may not please all as an essential punk band, but the rockers have certainly held their own for 20 years now. The band recently released career-encompasisng Twenty earlier this year, but they haven’t released an original studio album since 2016’s Tidal Wave. Adam Lazzara and co. obviously show no signs of slowing down, so we can be sure to expect something from the emo/post-hardcore mainstays in 2020.

6. Elway

Perhaps a lesser-known group on the list, this band are not to be overlooked. Yes, they have drawn criticism from the legendary Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, but the punks are also in Colorado, so it’s fair game. Elway dropped For The Sake Of The Bit in 2018 and have since stated they would have new tunes out by the end of this year. So, we can probably expect a couple of singles for now and an LP in 2020.

7. Dangers

Dangers haven’t dropped a new record since 2016’s The Bend In The Break. In fact, Dangers appear to have disappeared musically with the exception of some live shows, and we can hope this only means the California hardcore crew are working on their best album to date.

8. Paint It Black

When hardcore legends Kid Dynamite split, two bands were formed: Paint It Black and None More Black. The former is fronted by guitarist and writer of Kid Dynamite, Dan Yemin (Lifetime). While they put out an EP in 2013, it’s been over a decade since their last full-length, New Lexicon, and we think 2020 would be a fine time for a proper release.

9. Joyce Manor

With Million Dollars To Kill Me releasing in 2018 and Joyce Manor pumping out an album roughly every couple of years, we should definitely expect something in 2020. Still young and full of talent, these guys should be on everyone’s radar for the next five years, minimum.

10. The Menzingers

Yes, the Menzingers released a new album, Hello Exile, in October, but the quartet have shown they’re more than willing to pump out singles and special releases in between albums. Currently on tour in support of Hello Exile, we wouldn’t be surprised if, at the very least in 2020, the Menzingers released a live album or a split with tour mates Tigers Jaw.

Can you identify these iconic punk bands from a photo of their singer?

Alternative Press Magazine — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 00:02:29 +0000

Punk has gone through so many stylistic changes over the years, it’s hard to nail down what the genre actually is nowadays. When it started, though, it was all about grimy, politically charged angst and flipping your middle finger to the establishment. The iconic punk bands who birthed the genre had some classic looks back in the day as they led the charge of pissed-off youths.

Can you identify which bands were fronted by these singers? Test out your knowledge below.

More on iconic punk bands

Some of the best punk bands of yesteryear are still kicking around and playing shows all across the globe.

Just last month, Bad Religion announced they’re adding even more dates to their extensive fall tour. The new dates will take the iconic punk group from coast to coast, wrapping up in Sacramento, California, Oct. 12.

The band keep their pointed political messages at the forefront of their music on their new album. One of the tracks, “Chaos From Within,” addresses President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall at the Southern U.S.-Mexico border.