Crash Kills Five “What do you do at night?” ep

This is a re-issue plus kind of release by the guys who would go onto write the surf instrumentals for Kids in the Hall. The plus is in the liner notes that come with the single. In the same way that Don provides the background stories in Trouble in the Camera Club he recounts how CRASH KILLS FIVE came together, their association with the DEMICS, their various recordings and how they broke up. CRASH KILLS FIVE start with a letter that Freddie Pompeii gives to Don Pyle from some kids in Calgary. Don goes to Calgary and meet these guys who have a band called BUICK McKANE.

 

These guys would relocate to Toronto to start CRASH KILLS NINE. A line up change, a name change, a bunch of serendipity and the band records a single in an actual garage that was converted into a studio. Don’s vocals sound like Joey Ramone. The music is more mid-paced like the DIODES except the drum structures borrow more from the CLASH, which is apparent in the song “It’s always there”. “Special school” is one of my favourites with the building BUZZCOCKS riffing.




This is one of the rare snapshots of a band perfectly in the scene in its origin and makes particular sense if you have ever heard Don talk about his love for record collecting. And speaking of snapshots, the cover is of the TD Towers at night. It is a stark shot of the financial district which was a common view in the era before the condos took over the city’s waterfront.



Working with the title, the cover does an iconic reinterpretation of the financial district similar to what the POLES did with “CN Tower”. It’s clever. (Ugly Pop Vinyl - http://uglypop.bigcartel.com/)