Wasted (by the heat, by the police)

After being assaulted by the police a few short weekends ago, Ontario is now being assaulted with an intense heat wave, so I'm sticking inside to avoid provocation with either. I was spending that last week outside biking, hence no updates.

Any discussion of the police should provoke a discussion of Black Flag. Each action has an equal opposite reaction right? Well, actually I guess even they did not believe it was equal; "Understand we're fighting a war we can't win..." Anyways, a recent thread on VLV (which is currently down so I cannot link you) prompted the following question:

Which is better; the Black Flag or Circle Jerks rendition of the Ginn masterpiece, "Wasted" ?






I think it is pretty crazy that we even have these two versions, both with Morris on vocals. Of course Circle Jerks stole the song, along with other Black Flag tunes such as "I Don't Care" which appears as a demo on Everything Went Black, and "Red Tape," which was never properly released, as well as some Redd Kross songs. Black Flag's response was to re-record "I Don't Care" with new lyrics. This is the song "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!", the last track on the Jealous Again EP.

So which is better? If you know me at all, then you know my vote is being given to Black Flag. Don't get me wrong though, even with the stolen song stigma, Group Sex rips. More interestingly however, is how each respective take on the song represents the group. For example, The Circle Jerks, and Group Sex, are enjoyed by most as a quirky and fast punk band - a great representation of early Cali hardcore. Their version matches this description, with it's sped up tempo, fairly clear guitar sound, and shouted vocals. Black Flag on the other hand are a whole other entity, even if this may not have been established at the time of the Nervous Breakdown release. Even just the way their  name is brought up sounds serious and heavy, music verging on psychotic. Their original version of Wasted matches such an identity as it is being formed. For a seminal classic punk 7" (and years before side two of My War was even conceived), the whole sound is heavy as fuck, and not to be messed with. The instrumental opening is simply brooding, whereas the Circle Jerks version jumps in with vocals immediately. The Black Flag version is simply more

In conclusion, the Black Flag version is better because the Circle Jerks version sounds like an angry punk kid, whereas the Black Flag version sounds like a crazy guy who might attack you with a knife. It's simply much more memorable. This will get examined in greater depth later.

Anyway, while we're on a tangent about police or something, remember that you should buy the zine because it comes with the new Germ Attak 7", Death to Cops, with crazy artwork to boot (view side panel). Toronto: my band is playing there on Saturday, I'll bring copies with me.

NXNE Mode

Sorry for those who ordered zines and have not gotten them yet, I was away in Toronto for NXNE, but I'm back now and they have been shipped. I wished some more Toronto hardcore was playing the fest.

For those who are in Toronto, you can now get copies of the zine at Hits & Misses on Bloor and Rotate This! on Queen West. For those in Ottawa, you can of course meet up with me in person, or Vertigo on Rideau St may still have copies left.

Toronto and NXNE was sweet, long story short saw (in this order) Mudhoney, X, Demon's Claws, Exene and John from X, Man or Astro-Man, Mudhoney, The Stooges, Man or Astro-Man, Cold Cave and a bit of Porcelain Forehead. I took some pictures which I'll upload later if they turn out. Here's a blurry cell phone photo from my Stooges vantage point, standing in front of 20,000 people. Shout out to the guy standing next to me whose shirt comprised of 100 safety pins which slowly would come undone throughout the set.

Also went to 8 record shops in one day; here's the loot from the trip, including a couple things I picked up for friends. Most excited about the Fucked Up 7"s. and the Kill City LP since The Stooges actually played the title track. Gay-Porno resembling VHS tapes are for Finner:

In other Toronto news, my band, Young Stalin is playing the city on July 10th with Point Break from Calgary at Siesta Nouveaux. No flyer yet. But we're playing this show for Ottawa folk.

Transmitting, A Week Later

A week after initially being released, the inaugural issue of the zine about 1/3 gone. Second batch of international orders have shipped, and I hope there are more to come. I'll be in Toronto for NXNE to see the Stooges, X and tons of other bands, so I'll bring some copies down there to attempt to unload on the record shops there. Issue 2 is far away, but anyone with a (good) band who might be interested in releasing a 7" with that issue, get at me.

headed to multiple hemispheres

In other news, this is a repost from the Vinyl Noize blog. Before SST became the infamous record label run by Greg Ginn and Black Flag, it was Ginn's electronics company. Ginn was a smart guy who held many electronics patents, mostly relating to radios. The company's name, Solid State Transmitters, would stick out as he released SST-01, the Nervous Breakdown 7". Listed on eBay now, however, is the real SST-01. The seller doesn't seem to make the connection to the record label. If he did, he'd probably get a lot more attention. Regardless, I'm tempted to bid...

Updated Prices & Moonhop to Moonstomp

Shipping to the US was cheaper than I thought, so the prices have been reduced. I also added options for buying multiple copies.

To tide you over, watch the progression of the following song. A bit of a departure from the music usually covered here but I was talking about skinhead culture with a friend last night.

The song begins as Moon Hop, by Jamaican Derrick Morgan in 1969. Quickly the song is appropriated by skinhead reggae/ska group Symarip. Later in Derrick Morgan's career, he would cater more closely and purposefully to the skinhead crowd. A decade later, with the explosion of two tone and other post punk wave genres, The Specials bring the song back to popularity, and Trojan would reissue the Symarip version. Show this to friends who doubt the non racist origins of the movement.

Derrick Morgan - Moon Hop (1969)



Symarip - Skinhead Moonstop (1969)



The Specials - Skinhead Moonstop (1979)

Zine is Ready!

This 8.5" x 7" (store with your 7"s!) 24 page zine is now ready.

Contains:

• New Germ Attak 7", Death to Cops, hand stamped and numbered out of 100.
• Interview with Pink Eyes (Fucked Up, Pink Eye, Millennial Reign)
• Belated best of 2009 list
• Other ramblings

$5 and this is yours. Buy in person, or use toolbar on the right.
You can contact me at 33.3revolutions@gmail.com to arrange a meet up, or just comment if you want to get a copy.

Zine Out ASAP

Alright, everything is compiled and editted, I have new photos thanks to Julie, and I have written some new reviews... so why isn't the zine out?

I keep coming up with new ideas, and thus I keep writing more. So once I finish working on the following pieces, photocopying will begin. This will hopefully by within a week. I wanted to write some things that examined records more closely, as I feel I had been treating them too superficially, as such I'm working on the following:

• Humour and Sexuality in Later Years Black Flag
• The Cure and The Smiths: Uncomparable Groups Based on Ideas of Identity
• Deciphiring Formats: Why Tapes, 7"s or 12"s

I am also about to leave for Toronto in a few hours for the following show, so hopefully I'll have lots of new records to talk about.

Also, Young Stalin are playing a second show; June 27th with Libyans, from Boston, who sound pretty cool. This is again at 443 Kent St. More details coming.

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.