(VA) Undergrowth 84 (Re-Upped)

More proof positive that Vancouver are the kings of late 70s/early 80s punk rock (also see previous post):

This post is a response to a request over at Dgrador's O Canadarm! site.

This is an excellent rare tape of the Vancouver scene with otherwise-unreleased tracks (live & demo's of released versions) from 1984 - mostly punk but with some art/alternative rock thrown in.

Undergrowth 84 was released on Collector's R.P.M. Records, which reportedly was a rather large record store in Vancouver, which dealt in vinyl collectables. The following description is based on another site's testimony:

"The smaller front part of the store had the 'KISS collectable corner' and the 'Beatles Museum' along with all the high-$ items; the larger rear of the place was a dark mould-smelling grotto of a few thousand LPs, EPs, 7"s, and tons of bootlegs of all genres including a wall of punk boot's. In the far back corner was a hidden door to a poster-lined stairway leading up to an antechamber of music & entertainment ephemera like posters, buttons, & TV Guides from the 1950s-1970s. Incredibly cool place, but around 1990 the owner slowly went crazy with paranoia & other strange symptoms, moved to a smaller shop (while the original site was razed for a big-name hotel) & would only let people in either through appointment or if they "looked right", and then even that disappeared....)"

The following year, CRPM would release Undergrowth 85.

Click On The Download Links Below.  

(VA) Undergrowth 84 (1984):

Side 1 (Tracks 1-26) 


Side 2 (Tracks 27-43) 

1	Nomeansno	Self Pity	6:21
2	Nomeansno	Some Bodies	4:02
3	Bill Of Rights	Blind Society	1:36
4	Bill Of Rights	Shot In The Ass	2:02
5	Bill Of Rights	Back In The USSR	0:51
6	Clay Pigeon	Party Line	2:33
7	Clay Pigeon	Holy War	3:34
8	Soldiers Of Sport	The Broadcast	4:11
9	Celebrity Drunks	Laugh Till I Cry	2:39
10	Culture Shock	Stay Away	1:26
11	Death Sentence	Get Out Of The Way	2:13
12	Death Sentence	Real World	1:05
13	Death Sentence	Ultra Violence	3:23
14	Unnatural Silence	Misfits Are Innocent	1:04
15	Unnatural Silence	Enemies	0:56
16	Spores	Meat Bi-Product	1:36
17	Spores	Pervert Me	2:02
18	Sudden Impact	Hostage Taker	2:11
19	Sudden Impact	She Drives Me Crazy	3:48
20	House Of Commons	Insane	2:15
21	Uknown Fibres	Surfer Joe	2:06
22	Slow	The Night Before	4:54
23	Emily	Cows In The Field	4:21
24	Emily	Doomed	4:11
25	Der Mittelgang	Take Away The Love	3:13
26	Der Mittelgang	Charade	3:12
27	Family Plot	Gravedigger	2:15
28	Family Plot	Taxi Driver	5:35
29	Quantum Leap	Cancelled Picnic	4:08
30	Kevin Zed	Roulette	2:52
31	Red Herring	If You Work For Me	4:27
32	Animal Slaves	Save Me From Ruin	4:22
33	Crushed	Clever	6:51
34	Scott Devries	Autoerotica	3:59
35	Moev	Ha (Biblebelts)	5:13
36	Skinny Puppy	Glass Houses	3:27
37	Skinny Puppy	K-9	3:38
38	Gord Martin	Still Examination Of Objects In Space	5:57
39	Courage Of Lassie	Hopes and Fears	4:26
40	Courage Of Lassie	Grablied (Loved Ones)	3:19
41	Pepperlip	Hambulance	1:55
42	Blair Petrie	Desulastantiate	7:09
43	Blair Petrie	Gog Demanos (Live)	3:09

Vancouver Independence

Not having grown up in either Toronto or Vancouver, I cannot personally attest to the efficacy of their respective punk scenes, circa 1980. But having listened to the musical records (excuse the pun) of each scene, it would seem to be that Vancouver was the punk capital of Canada. The sheer number of bands makes the city one to rival the London scene at the time.

Anyway, in 1980 this compilation was released, showcasing fourteen tracks by some of the city's independent artists. This collection is by no means "Punk" in the sense of the term as we know it: ie. how one might describe the music -- "rough, loud, etc."... But this is definitely punk in spirit.

The music is admittedly all over the map and may not always work, but that's neither here or there; it's merely my opinion. I'm posting it here for archival purposes.

Enjoy.


(VA) Vancouver Independence (1980):

1	Subhumans	Behind My Smile	2:53
2	Metros	Don't Like It At All	2:49
3	Si Monkey	The Conquest Of Daytime	2:58
4	No Exit	No Excuse	3:42
5	Droogs	Nuremberg '34	2:56
6	B-Sides	Spy vs. Spy	2:41
7	Melodic Energy Commision	What Would You Say?	2:50
8	B-Sides	Underground Radio Stars	2:40
9	Droogs	J.K.O.	3:09
10	No Exit	Nothing New	3:36
11	Si Monkey	Get Rigid	3:29
12	Subhumans	Out Of Line	1:36
13	Metros	In With The Crowd	2:22
14	The Singing Cowboys	Midnight Cowboy	3:41

Uh-Oh Canada! - Vol. 1 (Fan Comp)

Here's an early Christmas gift for you:

This is a fan compilation I made, of nothing but Canadian underground rock from between 1975-1995. This is the first in a series of similar comps I'm putting together.

I've tried to put together a nice mix of different styles, from straight-ahead Punk Rock and Garage Punk, to Alt-Country, New Wave and Post-Punk, Jazz-Funk, Jangle-Pop, Space Rock, Industrial and Reggae. While many of the songs and artists might not be "definitive" of Canadian punk rock ("What...? No Teenage Head? No DOA?, etc."), during the time frame I've provided, I've tried to concentrate on some selections that might not immediately come to mind.

Rest assured, the so-called "definitives" will be included in subsequent volumes.

I know the cover is a bit cheesy and lame (trust me...it's hard to find good band photos out there without copyright -- this one's courtesy of Chris Barry and the late Bryan Damaged c/o Punk History Canada dot com). Originally I was going to call it "Uh-Oh Canaduh!"... but that was too much of a ripoff of the Oh Canaduh series of punk rock covers. I might re-change it altogether, I don't know.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers.


(VA) Uh-Oh Canada! - Vol. 1 (Fan Comp):

	1 Tankhog I Woke Up In Love This Morning 3:17 2 54-40 Walk In Line 4:20 3 222s First Studio Bomb 2:21 4 Viletones Dirty Feeling 3:04 5 Nostrils I'm Vile 2:16 6 Crash Vegas The One That Keeps Me Running 4:41 7 Red Tide My Son Is A Kuwahara 1:21 8 Cottage Industry Theme From Superstar 3:54 9 Shuffle Demons Spadina Bus 3:59 10 Ceramic Hello Sampling The Blast Furnace 4:27 11 Jr. Gone Wild Poet's Highway 4:15 12 Heimlich Maneuver Takin The A-Train For Jesus 3:27 13 Gruesomes For All I Care 3:09 14 Grievous Angels Gordie And My Old Man 3:38 15 Payola$ China Boys 3:17 16 Simply Saucer Nazi Apocalypse 3:10 17 Animal Slaves Cocoon 4:21 18 Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet Having An Average Weekend 2:37 19 Rupert Bailey and the Swingers Mississauga Evacuation 6:49 20 Moev Yeah, Whatever 5:53 21 Eastbound To Kennedy Bang 3:48 22 The Negatives Echos 4:02

htroF & kcaB

Back and Forth was the self-published debut album from Skinny Puppy, released in 1984. It was supposed to be a limited edition of 50 copies but only 35 were actually made. The first 15 copies were dubbed at a normal speed, while the remaining 20 were dubbed at a high speed, making them slightly inferior to the first 15. This album was remastered and rereleased in 1992 as Back and Forth: Series 2, with additional tracks. The inner sleeve includes a detail of George Tooker's 1950 painting Subway.



These tracks appear in a remastered form on BACK AND FORTH SERIES TWO.
The mix of 'Sleeping Beast' included here is a different (and shorter)
mix from those included later on the 'Remission' and 'Back & Forth
Series 2' releases.

Skinny Puppy - Back and Forth (1984):

1	Skinny Puppy	Sleeping Beast (B+F1 Raw)	5:33
2	Skinny Puppy	K-9 (B+F1 Raw)	3:29
3	Skinny Puppy	Quiet Solitude (B+F1 Raw)	4:36
4	Skinny Puppy	The Pit (B+F1 Raw)	3:15
5	Skinny Puppy	Dead Of Winter (B+F1 Raw)	7:02
6	Skinny Puppy	A.M. / Meat Flavour (B+F1 Raw)	1:53
7	Skinny Puppy	Edge Of Insanity (B+F1 Raw)	1:28

When Politics Was Punk

For political junkies, the name Warren Kinsella will be familiar.

He was the Liberal Party of Canada's attack-dog, also known as "Canada's James Carville".

But long before became a Liberal Party strategist, a teenage Kinsella from Calgary, Alberta, Canada got together with his friends Alan McDonald and Pierre Schenk, to form a punk rock band called The Social Blemishes. In 1977, they changed their name to the Hot Nasties, purportedly taken from a XXX film.

In 1980, they released the Invasion Of The Tribbles EP, on Kinsella's own Social Blemish label. They later released an album's length of material on cassette.

In1981, the band called it a day. But in 1994, punk rock historian Frank Manley included it on the Canadian punk rock discography, Smash The State Vol. 1.

In 2005, Kinsella had a new band called Shit From Hell, which performs some covers of The Hot Nasties. Meanwhile, Narduwar The Human Serviette's band, The Evaporators, covered "Barney Rubble Is My Double" for an album.

1	Hot Nasties	Barney Rubble Is My Double	1:44
2	Hot Nasties	I Am a Confused Teenager	1:48
3	Hot Nasties	Invasion Of The Tribbles!	3:42
4	Hot Nasties	Kill Me If You Can	1:47
5	Hot Nasties	This Is Unlove	2:40
6	Hot Nasties	Vlad Ersatz Poet	1:22
7	Hot Nasties	Nasties Theme	0:46
8	Hot Nasties	Steppin' Stone	2:41
9	Hot Nasties	Ollie Smith	1:58
10	Hot Nasties	Teenage Lament (Live)	2:16
11	Hot Nasties	Lookin' 4 U (Live)	2:08
12	Hot Nasties	Seven Years Old (Live)	2:30
13	Hot Nasties	Hey Guys	1:16
14	Hot Nasties	Jah Tribble Heavy Dub	1:16
15	Hot Nasties	October Seven-Oh	3:12
16	Hot Nasties	Getawayfromme	2:14
17	Hot Nasties	Fashion Show (Live)	3:07
18	Hot Nasties	Do You Know (Live)	2:44
19	Hot Nasties	Secret of Immortality	3:55