Zine - Smash It Up, April 1981

Smash It Up is a Toronto punk fanzine. This issue came out in April 1981. The cover artwork is courtesy of Noxious Art and I am not sure what a palm tree is doing on front of a Toronto skyline unless it is replicating the signage for the El MoCombo. This issue makes the promise that there will be an issue of Smash It Up coming out weekly for the month of April. I'm not sure if that happened but there is a listings for the Horseshoe on the inside cover so you get a look at all the shows happening that would be interest to the punk scene. This issue also starts out with a review of a local band called The Partys Over. They released a cassette in the vein of Kraftwerk. More evidence of Toronto's diversity when it came to music.

Bauhaus played the Edge on March 4th, 1981 and there is a review of the show that really starts out the issue. Simple Minds also played the Edge and there is an attempt at an interview but that doesn't come off.

There is an interview with Andy Paterson from the Government which is lengthy, but I appreciated that as this is the first interview I have read about the Government. They talk about things like the band's releases, the importance of independent art, and a song called "Flat Tire" that had some local coverage.

There is a Captain Beefhart piece that is illegible in this issue.

There is a handwritten interview with Truths and Rights who were a reggae band that appears on the Last Pogo compilation. they get asked about their thoughts on bands like the Police. And later in this issue there is a piece on another local reggae band called One Love. Maybe the reggae coverage warranted the palm tree theme.

This appears courtesy of the archival collection of Dhaibid James who hosts Moondog's Ballroom on CIUT 89.5FM.