The Secrets studio 3 session

It's rare you get to meet people that inspire you. Usually you hear a radio interview with someone or see an interview on TV or the internet, but it is rare that you get to be part of that conversation. I have been into punk for a long time and as I have gained an appreciation for the homegrown local scene I have come to recognize that the Viletones and the Diodes were some of the pioneers of that scene. That is a given, especially after reading Treat Me Like Dirt or Perfect Youth or Trouble in the Camera Club. But the first band that grew out of that scene and became part of a second wave that is described as part of the second wave is a band named the Secrets. The band got their name because they technically had formed while the Viletones were still a band. They were practising in secret. And they initially started out as a jam band. In fact when they first started playing they were known as the Secrets Review. And they shared the stage with all the folks who were singers in that first wave. They performed as a stage band and had many of the greats like Mickey Skin and Lucas and Zero come up and sing....while they worked on original material. And the material was not what you would expect from guys who wrote the Viletones and Diodes material. The key difference was that it had a back beat. This had something to do with the musicians backgrounds. Freddy had been a do wop singer back in Philly. That influenced a song like "Zoom". 

John and Chris performed in R and B bands prior to their band Zoom, which Don Pyle has argued is the first punk band in Toronto to release a record. There are songs on the Secrets LP that are bar blues numbers and more new wave inspired. But the music reflected the time when bands like the Clash started toying with reggae and rockabilly. The Secrets were out of the gate early and they shared the spotlight bring the scene together at a time when it was falling apart. Gary Topp put together a reunion show for the Secrets getting Freddy Pompeii to come back for the first time in decades. Cleave told us about this reunion a year earlier and we began planning to record a session. Freddy's trip to Toronto led to him getting strep throat and so he wound up missing the session. he was hopped up on antibiotics trying to get better for the show they had in Hamilton later that week. So Chris, John, Bryant and Cleave came in to record a session but recorded the only two songs that Freddy didn't sing on. "Schoolgirl Hitchhiker" and "I'll Cry Tomorrow", which appeared on the "No Pedestrians" compilation. We also got to speak to these guys in three parts. Interview part 1, Interview part 2, and Interview part 3. 

This session was recorded by Ian Wilkinson. The session was videotaped by Aldo Erdic and Candy Nichols.

The Strike studio 3 session

The Strike are an oi band, originally from Cannich, which is the Highlands of Scotland some 30 clicks outside of Inverness. Significant to the punk scene they wrote some of the greatest punk anthems which were brought to life on a series of oi compilations. They are particularly known for "Gang Warfare" and "Skinhead" which appeared on the "Strength Through Oi" comp. Garry Bushell first encouraged the band by listing one of their demoes in his top 10 oi list for Sounds Magazine and then by getting the, on this compilation. Fergus Macleod, the lead singer and bass player, goes into this story in the interview. 

Fergus broke the Strike up in 1983 over musical differences. He moved to Toronto and then to Vancouver where he would form Emergency with Nick and Mike from the Subway Thugs. There is a great write up on Emergency found at Ghetto Rock which gives the background on the band and their recording history all while reviewing the full length that was released at the time "1234". Since then Longshot Music released two of the songs from an earlier demo as an ep. The band was able to record one of the Emergency's songs "What You Gonna Do". 

More recently, Fergus re-located to Ontario and lives in Midland. He got in touch with Peter Lambert over some record trading. Peter started out drumming for NFG when they first started out and left around the glam phase of 63 Monroe. Peter moved to London England and played with many bands including the Angelic Upstarts. Peter recorded on their "Reason Why?" LP in 1983 and you can see his credits at this discogs page. Peter asked if Fergus was ever interested in starting up the band again and he was. Peter then sought out Chris Crash. 

Chris Crash has his own interesting stories, but some of his history starts as far back as playing in Slander, which is one of Hamilton's first recorded punk bands. Chris would go on to play in the Hammer Boys, an all skin hardcore band. He runs a punk store called Crash Landing now, but was very familiar with the Strike's material. When Peter approached Chris about playing in the Strike, Chris couldn't believe it and started playing "Skinhead" on guitar to verify that it was the same band they were talking about. Peter knew he had the right guy for guitar. 

Randy from Rebel Time Records put us in touch with this new version of the Strike and after weeks of figuring out scheduling we were able to record this session. The Strike have played a show at This Ain't Hollywood. Tonight they recorded the following songs :

1.  Hungry Man

2. Action Man

3. Agony of the Nation

4. Skinhead

5. When the War is Over

6. Gang Warfare / Anthem of the 80’s

7. What You Gonna Do?

8. Alien

9. Victims

10. Cry of the Youth

11. Mania

12. CIUT ID

13. EXD ID

We did an interview that was recorded in two parts (Part 1) and (Part 2).

Thanks to Ian Wilkinson for recording and mixing everything. Thanks to Aldo and Candy for video taping the session. 

Triage studio 3 session

Self-proclaimed hesher-core, Triage have already recorded a six song cassette last December. It's pretty great in an Attitude Adjustment sort of way. The band feature Lia on vocals who used to be in Cunt Punt and currently plays in VCR, Sadie on guitar who has recorded studio 3 sessions with Direct Approach and Burial Permit, Matt on bass who plays in VCR and the Frags and records a bunch of bands in the contemporary scene, and Kaelan on drums who used to drum for Brutal Youth and currently also plays guitar in the Frags. Lia spent some time getting a vocal effect for this session. Matt was wearing an Accused t-shirt. We recorded the following songs:

- Secret War
- Retaliatory Strike
- Society's Victim (Discharge)
- Power Beat
- Intro / White Eyes
- Fear Eater
- Dystopic Scene
- Everyday in Hell
- New song

They also put together the following IDs:

- CIUT is a Retaliatory Strike ID
- EXD is like Everyday in Hell ID

We also did an interview with the band after the session.

The session was recorded by Big Brother's Ian Wilkinson. Aldo and Candy from Punks 'n Rockers video taped the session. 

Fathers studio 3 session

Fathers are a new band from Toronto started up by Jada (singer) and Arina (bassist), but it was only recently when they got Josh on drums and Cale on guitar that the band became the version that recorded the recent six song demo "Gain". I came across the "Gain" demo from a link found on the Facebook event page for the Ajax show which was the first show Fathers played. But I met Jada at the IWD takeover of EXD and she was interested in having the band come in and record a session. In my interactions with Jada she talks like a rapper and espouses a big appreciation for Drake, so that is an influence on her. I wonder if the Beastie Boys might be a similar trajectory given she has a foot in each world. Even some of the vocal delivery shares the influences. Arina used to play in Cunt Punt, which was an all women band that I wanted to get into the station but learned that they have broken up.

The music is rudimentary in terms of punk. The band would often jump into loungey jazz improvs in between songs. They also have a lo fi sound. All of this reminds me of early Minutemen. But lyrically the subject matter focuses on sexuality the same way the Submissives did. 

We recorded the same songs from the "Gain" recording. you can download these new versions here which include:

1. Boy Pussy
2. Lover Boy
3. I Gotta Piss 
4. Bath Bomb
5. Silver Dick
6. New Phone Who Dis

The band also did IDs based on their songs:

Fathers CIUT ID
Fathers EXD ID

The session was mastered by Ian Wilkinson and videotaped by Aldo Erdic for Punks and Rockers.

Flesh Rag studio 3 session

Do you remember when these guys lived in Welland and Burger played guitar. It was way back and they were known as the Rocket Reducers. Jimmy Vapid was recording them and he was recommending them to me. Well Jimmy is still letting me know about Matt's latest project and Jimmy is even involved with the recording of Matt and Burger's latest band. Matt had recorded some songs with Jimmy and then Jimmy reminded him about them and then Matt and Nate became roommates and Jimmy told Matt about Eric, because Eric was in the last rendition of the Vapids and Flesh Rag came to life. Jimmy loaned a recording unit and Matt and Nate set about writing and recording songs almost everyday that TV Freaks aren't doing things. 

In our session we recorded:

1. It Ain't Enough
2. Burning Sands
3. Blood on my Mind
4. You Fucked Me Up, You Put Me Down
5. Running Around
6. Ugly Death
7. Ballad
8. Tombstone Heart
9. Fucked Up
10. Bad Attitude
11. Milk Man

Then we recorded some IDs:

12. Bad Attitude EXD ID
13. Fucked Up CIUT ID

Throughout the session it got hot and the band stripped down to their underwear. They have a lot of tattoos. 

Matt talked about a lot of shitty things that has happened to him like the break up the Mystics and the break up with his wife and the benders, but Matt talks with the verve of a guy who is high on life. 

And Burger seems super stoked to have access to an 8-track. That seems to be the driving force or the fourth member in this band. the band keeps making songs. It sounds like every band should have an 8-track. 

The last time the Rocket Reducers were on the show, Matt was getting dropped off by his mom. Now he has adult problems and drives himself.

This session was recorded by Ian Wilkinson. It was videotaped by Candy Nichols for Punk and Rockers. 

Brauer studio 3 session

So who are Brauer? I didn't know before doing this studio 3 session. I looked them up and lots of historical pieces not related to punk came up. I did eventually come across the singer, Sloane, wearing a Jawbreaker shirt which makes sense because the band did do a cover of "Kiss the Bottle". 

When I got to the radio station Nick was waiting for me wearing an Absolut shirt so I was expecting some raging d-beat. What I wasn't expecting was an extremely sophisticated hybrid of hardcore that drew from the "Summer of revolution", straight edge bro core, and various aspects of more raging emo that defined the late 90's scene. And when we starting speaking in the interview you start getting an idea of just how deep the influence bench goes with Brauer. 

So I don't consider myself a big emo guy. Until I started watching Brauer and started trying to connect the dots with bands like Three, Gray Matter, Beefeater and songs like "Mambo's 1 through 4" have a certain Nation of Ulysses quality to their title in the subcultural analysis. In fact, Sloane's vocals remind me of Guy Picciotti of Fugazi fame.

Nick and Campbell (Wastoids, Direct Approach) reminded me of the Fred / Dug E Bird partnership of the Beefeater line up. 

Selvin and Nick talked bro core and Selvin could hit the kit like any other mosh drummers, but he also played the kit with the delicacy of a jazz kit player. 

Brauer was just mind blowing. Sloane had some of the freedom of association stream that Leah from Farang employs especially with references to ice cream and then go back to heavy subjects like sexual assault in songs like "Baptist". Musically, Brauer sounds as accomplished as the New Enemy or Victim Party or Careers in Science. In fact these bands could all play together for sure. Brauer remind me of the mash up concept of Hassler as applied to the Summer of Revolution back catalogue but with a quick witted lyricist. This is gold. Hear for yourself. The songs recorded i tonight's session include:

1. Mambo's 1 through 4
2. Technicolour Yawn
3. Skinny Wolves
4. Lesley Gore
5. What a time to be alive (2011)
6. Castlerock
7. Iron On
8. Baptist / Human Torch
9. Kiss the Bottle

The band also did some IDs for the station and the show.

10. 2011 ID
11. Human Torch ID
12. Kiss the Bottle ID

Candy at Punks and Rockers caught all of this on video.

To hear Brauer in their studio recordings go to https://brauer.bandcamp.com/.

Disdonut studio 3 session

Two days before x-mas and we were able to schedule a band in at the station on the caveat that we start an hour earlier. As we got going we realized Aaron (guitarist) had to work back in St. Thomas so that hour allowed us to get out of there sooner.  But in all the bands (Oxbaker and Poison Spur) that Mike (Woody) has played in, this has been the only one that has come in to play. It's weird given the kitsch nature a project that started out as a one man band doing songs that combined the dis nature of a D-Beat band with the subject of donuts. So in honour of the night I brought in a dozen not realizing that Woody despises maple flavoured donuts. 

But Mike was the brainchild behind Disdonut. And he tells us the story about how he was inspired by a set of Steve's other band Disrape that he came up with the concept. It was more a personal dare that a Dis band could be written about anything. So in an effort to stretch the Dis format to ridiculous new lengths he started writing songs.

1. Fritter Obliteration
2. Honey Glazed Holocaust 
3. Old fashion Pain
4. Nuclear Dutchie
5. Jelly Full of Napalm
6. Coconut Cream Genocide
7. Maple Dip Massacre
8. Walnut Crunch Warfare
9. Death's Doorstep Double Chocolate
10. Crueller knows only cruelty

As these songs developed Woody put together a tape with Aaron's help on guitar and a drum machine. Aaron had played with Woody in Poison Spur. As people started to hear the tape Woody got pressure to play out. Steve approached Woody about playing bass and didn't mind making the commute from Kitchener. Dave played in Oxbaker with Woody and so that is roughly how the pieces came to fit together. The band has only played the one show with Sete Sept Star from Japan, but they will be playing more in the future. And as out interview demonstrates this donut theme has a lot more gold to mine. We had some fun recording some IDs afterwards:

11. Pass the Nuclear Dutchie CIUT ID
12. Endless Blockade ID
13. Old Fashion Pain EXD ID

The session was recorded by Ian Wilkinson. The video was filmed by Aldo and Candy of Punks and Rockers. 

Farang studio 3 session

Farang is Matt's project. Or that is how Leah started explaining the band to me. Matt wrote some songs and started working them out with Ivan. Once they had the basic structure he approached Payson about playing guitar. And then they brought in Leah. 

But how I know three of these folks is through their other bands. I knew Matt through former host Dave Brown who played with him in Capital Death which was a band from Truro that Matt and Payson both played in. More recently Matt (the Endless Blockade) and Payson (Purity Control) sang in bands from here, but Farang sees these guys returning to the instruments that they played in Capital Death. 

I know Ivan from his bands Terminal State and School Jerks and more recently Kremlin. Ivan also co-hosted the show for a few months so I feel like he is part of the EXD family. Ivan e-mailed me about getting Farang to play on the show when Matt came back from New York City at the end of the summer. I had to re-schedule this session at least once but eventually we were able to set this up. 

Ivan described the sound like starting with a Mob 47 riff and working on not repeating any rhythm in a creative inventive post punk way. Ivan continues by explaining that it took a long time for Farang to develop their sound and in part because the member's were getting familiar with each other. They never had any conversations on influences with regards to bands or sounds. 

People have compared Farang to Devo and Dead Kennedys, 

"Ear of the Bull" reminds me of Black Flag's "My War" given the prominent bass structure and the crazy guitar pieces. There is a lot of early Minutemen in there which has more to do with the jazz like structure. I wonder if this is an SST mash up but the band denies anything that directed. Bob Mould even creeps in there with some of the speed at which Payson plays. 

But despite all of these I have to say I have never heard of anything like Farang having them defy description.Regardless I couldn't help myself trying to keep pace with the songs in a way that just sucked me in. 

We were able to record songs from the band's past two releases. They were:

1. Constrictor
2. Woggle
3. Ear of the Bull / If you're not now you never were
4. If you're not now you never were
5. Jampacking
6. Gumboots / Maximum Taxiderm / Let's Kill
7. Psychic Bruise

Then I bugged the band to do some IDs

8. Psychic Bruise EXD ID
9. Farang on CIUT ID

We also spoke with the band afterwards in the hallway. The production studio was broken so Ian set up some mics.

This session was recorded and produced by Ian Wilkinson. The video was filmed by Aldo and Candy.  Candy did the editing on this clip.

Pub Night studio 3 session

It was our first blast at winter. It snowed yesterday for the first of the season and it is supposed to snow again tomorrow, but today we get a little reprieve from precipitation. To be honest I can't get the  Asta Kask "Med Is I Magen" cover out of my head. If only the snow were to stick around. But it is too early in the season for accumulation. Anyway loading in during the cold is never pleasant and makes you asks those questions why am I still doing this until you realize that some of these guys are your best friends and you never get to see them anymore. I have known Paul the longest. He played drums in the first real band that I ever got to play in. We were housemates for many years and he let me participate in a zine he did called Drastic Solutions. But Paul  is more currently known as the guitarist in Legion666 where he got to explore his kang side. he is back to playing drums in Pub Night.

Pat, played bass in the Blundermen, which was a band that was SLF inspired and I put out a 10" of theirs on my label Ragamuffin Soldier Records. Paul played in a band with Pat before that called Kops for Christ that Gusher Records released. More recently Pat is in an oi inspired band called Overpower that have never gotten to see because half of them are from Montreal and so making that band work has its challenges. We have talked about having them play on the show but scheduling became a nightmare that neither of us broached. But I do think that Overpower was an inspiration for this new band in remaining the front man.These are the gruffest vocals I have ever heard Pat do. And this is the first time I have heard him play guitar.

I know Ian from further back than his Blowhard days but Blowhard is what I remember him in being in. The interview reveals more band's that Ian has played in and some with some combination of these people.

I saw Pub Night in the spring opening for the Angelic Upstarts. I spoke to them that night about coming on the radio show. Six months later it is happening.

I was surprised to learn that Joel had joined the band. Not only did I not realize they had added a member since their first show, but I would have never guessed it would have been Joel because I have never pictured Joel as being into early 80's oi music. But why not Joel. He had played in Rammer as a lick master. He plays in Absolut currently. I knew he liked straight edge music, so it shouldn't be a shock that he would like and master this too. But Joel has just joined so he is working out where he fits in. So this is one of those rare early recordings by a band. Ian Wilkinson recorded tonight's session. The songs recorded include:

1. The Bottle
2. Another Round
3. Skins in Law
4. Panic
5. Last Call
6. Going down the bar (Wretched Ones cover)

Then we did a bunch of station IDs:

7. It's Pub Night on CIUT
8. It's Pub Night on CIUT in Espanol
9.  Equalizing Distort ID
10. CIUT ID

And there were a lot of camera angles for this session by Candy and Aldo. I believe this is Candy's first attempt at editing the session. And Candy also shot photos while holding two videocameras which was insane to watch. She is a juggler.

The Rebel Spell studio 3 session

This is the third time I have spoken with the Rebel Spell, but the second studio 3 session we have recorded with them. Last time they were here "Beautiful Future" had come out and we could only do an interview which was in the hallway with a zoom recorder. And someone had to bring the zoom recorder into the station. That interview was with the same line up which features Todd on vocals, Erin on guitar, Elliot on bass, and Travis on guitar.

The first time was at the old station in 2006. But this session was set up by Rebel Time Records who were involved with this latest release. Randy sent the CD to me when it first came out and I had been listening to it constantly in preparation for the interview. Not just listening to it, loving it. It was like a kindred spirit with regards to the lyrics. In fact, I apologized after the interview for getting so in depth with the lyrics and Todd said I should just pick up the phone and call him in a joking manner. But I let him know that I was grateful that he wrote about the subject matter that he did regarding the environment and the First Nations and about oppressive parts of the system. 

The Rebel Spell had been on your for a while and when watching them and just how perfect they were playing I observed that this was a band firing on all cylinders. They give it their all for every song which required playing full out and simultaneously singing complicated vocal arrangements in unison. 

The band recorded songs from the new release and past releases. Here is what was recorded.

1. Hopeless
2. Can't Fool Me
3. Hacksaw
4. Not a Prayer
5. All We Want
6. Mover of Movers
7. Breathe
8. Can't Be Just Me
9. See Through
10. Is It Enough?
11. I am a Rifle
12. Pride and Prejudice

Then we had them record some IDs:

13. Rebel Spell CIUT ID
14. EXD ID

This session was recorded by Ian Wilkinson. The session was videotaped by Aldo Erdic and Candy Nichols for Punks and Rockers. This clip only captures "All We Want", "I See Through", and "I am a Rifle", but you will get how on this band is.  



Afterwards we went to the band's school bus which was fuelled on recycled vegetable oil and smelled like french fries. Walking the walk. That school bus is amazing.

Burn Victim studio 3 session

BURN VICTIM are a new-ish power violence band from Hamilton. The band features Stephen from WEB SOCIETY on vocals and Nate from NOT on drums. BURN VICTIM have played many shows ion the past couple of years with bands like FUCK YOU PAY ME (Cleveland), HATYMAKER, PICK YOUR SIDE, ARTIFICIAL DISSEMINATION, REZENTMENTS, SNAKERCHARMER, BORN WRONG and countless others. In the last two years the band has pulled together three recordings (which can be found at bandcamp) making this their fourth. The line up is filled out with Joe on guitar and Sam on bass. Tonight they recorded:

1. Rat
2. Hypocrite
3. Action
4. Jesus takes the wheel
5. Self-Doubt
6. False Entitlement
7. Pinto
8. Terminal

Most of this was recorded in one take. Then we decided to have some fun starting off with the Charles Bronson cover.

9. Deaf and Dumber

And then we did some station IDs. Burn Victim were willing participants for this.

10. Rat EXD ID
11. Terminal CIUT ID
12. Pinto CIUT ID
13. Alone ID
14. CIUT ID
15. EXD on CIUT ID

There was an interview afterwards where Stephen explains the meanings to songs, Nate talks about how the band came together, Joe talks about his love for Metallica and Sam his love for jazz. There are quite a few more pictures found at https://archive.org/details/BurnVictimStudio3.

Tonight's session was recorded and mixed by Big Brother's Ian Wilkinson. The session was video taped by Aldo of Punks n' Rockers.

Victim Party studio 3 session

It has taken us a while to book Victim Party. They are one of the biggest bands we have recorded with two singers, two guitarists and a rhythm section. Colin and Pat have recorded a studio 3 session or two with Hostage Life, but that was back at the basement at St. George. The third floor digs allow us to isolate things like drums and guitar amps, which help at the mixing stage. But we had five plus people in the broadcast studio and somehow it worked. 

The band was set on recording their latest LP along with one additional song. The full length is called "Getting to know the Victim Party" and has a few themes that weave the material together. But each member, past and present has a song about them and in a very literal way this serves as in introduction to the members of the band. These songs include:

- An evening with Colin (shouter)
- Adam Cook, Extinguished Gentleman (original bassist)
- Weekend at Kyle's (drummer)
- Tabi Irani, Tragically Fascist or Fascistically Tragic (singer)
- Matt Woo (and you can too) (bassist)
- You're Great, I'm Dean Richards (guitarist)
- Patrick Mathers cuts the sleeves off your expectations (guitarist)

There is an opening number which is about a party and is called "Spring Mixer". And there is a song that predicts the band's break up called "Irreconcilable Similarities". The additional song is "100 Assholes" which is a song pulled together from two earlier songs which were "100 Laces" and "Poets and other assholes". These original songs can be found at http://victimparty.bandcamp.com/album/the-worst-party-on-earth-digital.

Colin's singing was familiar and amazing. Tabi's vocals were sung and held in a soulful way that sounded like Delta 72 or Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex. The two singing styles together is unique and as we went through the songs I realized that this band spends a lot of time on vocal arrangements. That is true of my most favourite punk bands like the Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, the Angelic Upstarts and it is amazing to hear it in a local band. But I find the vocal arrangements are a lot more complex in Victim Party's material,  in a way that invites singing along, head bobbing and foot stomping. 

A two guitar attack between Dean and Pat make for a full sound. Matt Woo on bass and Adam's brother Kyle plays bass. Adam was the original bass player in this band and played with Colin in Marilyn's Vitamins. This may be helpful in some family tree sort of way on the scene in the future.

This session was recorded by Ian Wilkinson who also recorded the Hostage Life session a few years back. 

Aldo from Punks and Rockers videotaped the session which you can see below.

Hangin' Tuff studio 3 session

It is the hottest day of the summer. That isn't saying much given that there haven't been any hot days this summer, but we finally got some hard to take humidity. It must be a studio 3 session.

I meet Hangin' Tuff for the first time on the steps of Hart House. They are a three piece without a bass player. Daryl (vocals) and Andy (drums) are from East York and have been playing with each other since high school. Lee (guitar) is from Timmins and came down to Toronto to do art school and met up with them two years ago to form a band called Dead Moms. They changed their name to the New kids on the Block reference and play geared up fast hardcore in the grind vein. They have played two shows in Toronto and two shows out of town but relatively they are unknown. They recorded a demo that was recorded at their rehearsal space at the beginning of the year. We got to record those songs again with multiple mics. Here is what we recorded:

1. Crystal Ball 
2. Ogie
3. Rage Cage
4. Club Rat
5. Pony Ride
6. Hit the Ice

We also recorded some IDs found below.

Rage Cage ID
Crystal Ball ID
Heard it First ID

All the audio was recorded by Ian Wilkinson. 

And Aldo from Punks and rockers video taped the session.

Skunx studio 3 session

The last studio 3 session we had a tornado touch down. Today we had two crazy rain storms. Must be something about recording punk bands in our broadcast studio that brings out the worst in the weather. 

Skunx were scheduled for the end of July, but Ian and Aldo will be away and the Delinquents want to wait til their recording is ready for release. Bennett informed me that Gio was planning on moving back home and that the Skunx were probably going to disband and that this was going to happen next month so we really wanted to get them into the studio. They agreed to fill in at the last minute. 

Israel was the first one at Hart House. He is really into rockabilly and he told me about how he had a rockabilly band that Gio played in. In exchange Gio played bass in Skunx. It's a symbiotic relationship. 

The session started late because Bennett had to get everything from the rehearsal space to the station which is the basement of Israel's girlfriend's rockabilly clothing shop. It's a pretty rad shop. We checked it out after the interview. Our time was also eaten up by trying to sift through the equipment thrown into the room after the rush to get the remote broadcast equipment into the equipment studio. Ian was able to find some effects and compressors, which was what Gio was looking for to get an echo effect on his vocals. By the time we had the sound we had to rip through a set which included the following songs:

1. Dose Brutal (which is a cover by a band of the same name)
2. Destiny
3. Law and Order
4. Chaos
5. Public Disgrace
6. No Future 
7. Youth
8. Terrorist Attack
9. Delincuente Adolescente
10. Riot

I also got them to do some IDs

1. Riot ID
2. Youth ID 
3. No Future ID

We interviewed the band about their releases and shows and the songs recorded tonight. 

Aldo of Punks and Rockers filmed the session with a bum leg. 

Resist Control studio 3 session

Wasn't sure this studio 3 session was going to happen. It is always dicey when a band is coming from across the border. They had no problems. The sound engineer had a busy work day and wasn't sure he would make it on time. He was loading change into the meter as I got down to the station. The weather got crazy knocking power out in my end of the city. There was a downpour with tornado force winds, but it finished just as I was leaving. Everything seemed to work out. 

Members of Resist Control have some history with the show. History I respect given how many great bands these guys were in and history that I learned about in the interview that took place afterwards. I knew about Mike playing guitar in Slave State. I was telling him about how they wowed me back in the day drawing influences from Infest and No Comment. Over a decade later Mike would start another band a decade later called Running for Cover which was equally great and drew on those early power violence greats. They recorded a studio 3 session with us before dissolving and them becoming Gas Chamber. But Mike had a band before all of these bands with Rob the singer and they initially wanted to call the band Resist Control. they were talked out of it, but when this second chance came to start a new band they went back to the original idea. 

The other piece to this puzzle is Matto LaQue who is from Albany and played in many bands which included John Browns Army and Devoid of Faith to name but a few. There is a proper listing of the bands they all played in on the interview. I know Matto from his label Peterwaulkee Records which has put out a number of great bands from Albany and Buffalo and other places. Matto moved to Buffalo in more recent times and transitioned from a guitar player to a bass player, which he explains as part of the reason for the meandering way he plays. As I listened to his sound I could;t help but think of Eric Wood's earlier projects like Pissed Happy Children. 

One interesting coincidence to me was the name of the band. Matto is from Albany. The song "Resist Control was written by a band from Albany called Life's Blood. The song would get recorded in the next band that these members would play in called Born Against. It is a tidy explanation for the band name but not one grounded in fact I am afraid. 

As for sound, the band does get compared to No Comment an awful lot and it is not entirely inaccurate. Rob has a singing style that is enunciated and reminds me of early MDC. In fact his delivery on "Traditions" sounded like the genius heard on "Business on Parade". There is also a lot of dissonance noise contributed by both Mike and Matto out of the feedback that they can coax out of their guitars. Something heard on more contemporary power violence bands like Column of Heaven or Vilent Intent. I have heard it on Gas Chamber's recordings as well and I learned that Mike played in this band for a while so it all makes sense. 

There weren't many do overs on the songs recorded but here is what did get committed to tape (so to speak):

1. Can't compete
2. Can't compete / Liberty in America
3. Past Results
4. American citizen
5. Traditions
6. Lost weekend
7. Nostalgia
8. Nothing new
9. Kleptocracy
10. Thought in the head
11. Modern times
12. Short Leash
13. Submission accomplished / Dissipation

The band also makes some IDs for the show and the station.

1. Can't compete CIUT ID
2. Traditions CIUT ID
3. Resist Control CIUT ID
4. Past Results EXD ID

The session was video recorded by Aldo at Punks and Rockers and a clip is here to see.