More Corridor Content

Youth Youth Youth, a classic punk band from Toronto, appeared on the BYO Comp "Something to Believe In," which I was given today. I saw them play Fucked Up weekend last year, and although its almost 20 years later, they totally ripped. This comp made me google their name once more, and I found this interview from APB#1, where there was a question relating to Ottawa:

When you played in Ottawa at the YCP festival (in december), how was the crowd reaction?


Well, it was hard on us because we went on the last, and there's this thing in Ottawa, where everyone has to take a bus to get home, because they dont have any all-night transit, and the show wasn't near the downtown core area, so alot of people had to leave early so there wasn't that much audience to react by the time we went on. Well, it was good, I really like the people in Ottawa, I had alot of fun there.

What was this YCP festival, anyone know? Anyways, this comp features many other Canadian bands (DOA, Nils, SNFU, Young Lions etc), and is worth checking out.

In the ~20 year lull between YYY shows, Bryan, the signer, has remained active, as he currently runs Hits and Misses, a great record shop in Toronto. Lots of decently priced used stuff, which is what's important when you're travelling and record shopping. I don't want to waste my time going through the same new bands I havent heard of and thirty dollar re-issues.

Finally, here's footage from their show at Fucked Up Weekend I alluded to earlier. There's videos from their heydey as well, but you can search those out yourself.

This is the Quebec-Windsor Corridor not LA

High Anxiety, the label run by legendary Chris Colohan* is issuing its first LP after a slew of great 7"s culminating with the Omegas 7". This LP will actually be a compilation with the A side being Toronto and B side being Montreal bands. Read more about that here. I'll be interested to see if it will be new songs or recordings, but either way some great bands on there. Most stoked for Career Suicide, Mad Men, Urban Blight (TO); Omegas, Inepsy, Ilegal (MTL). Kinda surprised Fucked Up isn't on there, but I suppose each comp can only handle so much Jonah**.

This corridor is ripping with great bands. Ottawa may be under represented, but in other scenes there are some waves being made. White Wires, who seem to already be well established, have their new LP coming out on Portland's Dirt Nap records, and Mother's Children have something coming out on Deranged*.

* Speaking of Chris Colohan, the new Burning Love 7" is up for preorder on Deranged, with the A side being a single from their upcoming album, and the B side being a Nick Cave cover.
**Speaking of Jonah (guitar in Career Suicide, drums in Fucked Up, everything in Mad Men), Mad Men have some of the best fucking punk songs ever written. Im not just saying oh this would fit in in 1981, Im saying this would have been a must own in 1981. There were originally a few scarce tapes out, but then these were compiled with a bonus track by an anonymous European "bootlegger." It's been out for awhile, and initially sold out immediately, but some copies appear here and there.

What the Fuck is Going On

So if you're keeping up at all with hardcore these days you know that "Mysterious Guy Hardcore" is all the rage, not so mysteriously. We have those chaotic gold rush style Youth Attack updates to thank for that mostly, as thousands of kids F5 the bigcartel page with the hopes of drawing out another few centimeters of cassette tape from a band they've likely never heard. Some of the stuff is good, like the new Veins tape. Regardless, it is all ridiculous.

So now that Youth Attack is getting played out (not really) mysterious bands need to step up their game. Well here's something that I don't fucking understand. Why is the new Total Abuse LP available on BestBuy.com? It's being released on PPM records, but a quick google search finds pre-orders on Bestbuy, and CDUniverse, but no regular punk distros. Bestbuy claims that the original release date is 1910. Rusty Kelley, the singer, is known for his mysteriousness, just check out his lyrics, his blog, his zine, his movie, and all his small run releases for Youth Attack etc.

Next on the mysteriousness is Charles Manson. I don't know how mysterious he is anymore, because few people probably take him serious, which is important when you want to mysterious (they rhyme). Anyway, he has a 7" coming out on Holy Terror records (you know, the label run by Dwid from Integrity, who always uses Manson iconography) limited to 100 on red. Check out this wacky cover art, looks like he's dressed as a cosmo seal. Sounds like some sort of mediocre Blues record.

Jello Biafra

I've spoken a fair bit about the Dead Kennedys on here so I figure this post is appropriate. Last night Jello came through town with his new band the Guantanomo School of Medecine or something. I was contemplating going, and decided I would when I found out Andrew Weiss was playing bass. But then I heard conflicting reports as to whether he was or not, so I saved my money. Anyway, maybe he did play, I'm not sure.

More importantly is Jello was into some local flavour, as apparently he picked up some Sedatives and White Wires LPs. Pretty hard not to be into tunes like these:



Pick up these tunes from Going Gaga, Douchemaster and Deranged.

Young Stalin

So my band played it's first show the other day. We've only had maybe four or five jams, and about the same amount of songs, making our set 7 minutes long. Its like punk or hardcore or something. Cal from Raised By Wolves taped our set, and you can watch it below. Far from flawless but still a lot of fun.


Young Stalin's First Show from Calum Green on Vimeo.

We also have a four track now, so we'll probably attempt to record something soon.

Also I just moved and the record gods have been good to me. I was stressing out because I had a few parcels coming in, and thought that they would arrive after I moved. Instead fortune was on my side and I got my last parcel card the day I moved. I also received a reward for my efforts on a long essay; as I left to go hand it in, a box had been placed at my apartment door, rather than left downstairs. How nice. Lots of new music to play once I get my stereo set up.