MRR Review - Class Assassins "You've Got It All Wrong" CD

A review from MRR of the Class Assassins CD. This appeared in issue #326, which came out in July 2010. Click on image to enlarge it to a readable size.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

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LOW THREAT PROFILE - Kick My Heart (Deep Six)

REDSKINS - Peasant Army (Insurgence)
CLASS ASSASSINS - Stop the World (Insurgence)
HOLD A GRUDGE - Time's Up (Insurgence)
AK 47 - Fuck Racism, Fuck Screwdriver, and Fuck You Too (Reason)
SEEIN' RED - Class War (Peculio Discos)

U.S. BOMBS - That's Life (Epitaph)
JERSEY - One Way Street (Virgin)
KING SIZED BRACES - Born Too Far (Squil Tone)
RIOT 99 - On the Tracks (Longshot)
CASUALTIES - Riot (Tribal War)

CRUDDY - Runnin' Rats (Let's Pretend / Basement Screams)
CITY SWEETHEARTS - Wrong Direction (P Trash)
IGGY POP - I'm Bored (Arista)
BOULEVARD TRASH - Lindsay's Song (Self-Released)
TRANZMITORS - Plastic Genocide (Deranged)
NERVOUS TICS - California Girl (Meaty Beaty)

THE CLASH - One More Time (Bootleg)
BLACK FLAG - Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie (Bootleg)
MINOR THREAT - Filler
DEAD KENNEDYS - Let's Lynch the Landlord (Starving Missile)
DESCENDENTS - Hope (SST)

MASSMORD - I Civilisationens Skugga (Vex)
APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT - Let's Take the Fight to Them (Vex)
SHADES OF GREY - Throw the First Stone (Vex)
INSTINCT OF SURVIVAL - Retaliation (World Funeral)
ANGUISH - Life Expense (World Funeral)

WARZONE - Dance Hard or Die (Caroline)
UNITY - Positive Mental Attitude (Wishing Well)
TOKEN ENTRY - The Whip (Roadrunner / Hawkeye)
WOLF PACK Bustin' Out (Bomp CP)
RAW DEAL - The Lines are Drawn (Self-Released)

PLANET DANGER - Ananias (Self-Released)
PLANET DANGER - Without Purpose (Self-Released)
PLANET DANGER - Searching for Answers (Self-Released)
PLANET DANGER - What I Despise (Self-Released)
PLANET DANGER - Life of Pain (Self-Released)

EDELWEISS PIRATEN - Manekiny (Trujaca Fala)

Class Assassins "You've Got It All Wrong" CD

I’m surprised to see this new full length because I thought the CLASS ASSASSINS broke up. Jamie Vella, a.k.a. Cactus, of SINKIN’ SHIPS, is doing double duty with the new CLASS ASSASSINS line up. The rest of the band is made up of CHAD formerly of BITTER GRIN, Chris formerly of HOCKEY TEETH, and Gary formerly from PROBLEM CHILDREN. As the lineage suggests, CLASS ASSASSINS are a hybrid of oi and melodic punk. And when I say melodic punk I am not talking about the crappy scene defined by bands like RANCID and BAD RELIGION. I am talking something more mid-paced and political in nature and a bit more DIY. They remind me of a more oi version of KNUCKLEHEAD. They play this style of pun because CLASS ASSASSINS were around in early versions of the hardcore scene. In fact, Chad’s involvement goes back to the first wave of the Toronto hardcore scene. He was buds with the guys in CHRONIC SUBMISSION and this association gives the band so much more cred. Well this new full length has none of the gems that defined CHRONIC SUBMISSION’s demo releases. But these guys were poisoned by the GREEN DAY generation of punk. They grew up listening to the old UK oi. Think of the BUSINESS, ANGELIC UPSTARTS, COCK SPARRER, and the like. This bleeds through on the new material. The songs on here are:

1. Crack of Thunder

2. Run for Cover

3. Empty Dollar

4. Outside Looking In

5. You've Got It All Wrong

6. Open Your Eyes

7. Stop the World

8. Going the Distance

9. After the Story

10. A Generation Robbed

11. Buy to Sell

12. Sex and Guns

13. Taking the Fall

Flyer - Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Flyer - Saturday May 10, 2008

Flyer - Thursday September 7th, 2006

Flyer - Friday July 28, 2006

The Class Assassins play with Sinkin' Ships and the Fallout at the Kathedral.

Various Artists "Toronto City Omnibus" LP

CLASS ASSASSINS - Uprise

HAYMAKER - Let God Sort them Out

HAYMAKER - Could You Be So Stupid

HAYMAKER - They Breed so Fast

HAYMAKER - Misery For a Living

HAYMAKER - Commodity 182

HAYMAKER - Reagan Youth

LEGION 666 - Free Speech

LEGION 666 - Perils of Freedom

LEGION 666 - Dear Cops

SCARE TACTIC - Bullets For Breakfast

SCARE TACTIC - Gun Control

SCARE TACTIC - Sick of Fun

MURDERSQUAD T.O. - Newly Dead

MURDERSQUAD T.O. - How Can there Be Christmas If There is No Peace

CAREER SUICIDE - Dicta Flag

CAREER SUICIDE - Shut Up

CAREER SUICIDE - Metal Threat

CAREER SUICIDE - Doom Ryder

CAREER SUICIDE - Spleengenerate

CAREER SUICIDE - That Other Song

CAREER SUICIDE - Todd Killings

CAREER SUICIDE - Left Over Bonus Crap

THE BLUE DEMONS - Atomos Cajones

THE BLUE DEMONS - Hot and Heavy

RIOT99 - Decade on the Dole

RIOT99 - Destroy the City

FUCKED UP - Generation / Last Man Standing

The Class Assassins "State of Emergency" CD

This is the Class Assassins first full length release. Once again this comes out on Insurgence Records and is the label's 16th release. The band recorded this at Vespa Studios which is a different studio than the first two releases. Vespa Studios is a studio that had just recorded Billy Talent and Rush's cover album. The important thing about this studio is that they still recorded on 2 inch analogue. Bruce McGee from the Forgotten Rebels recorded the session. "State of Emergency" contains re-recorded versions of songs from the demo like "Uprise", "The Class Assassins", "Hard Times", and "Urban Rebel".

A new version of the single "No Justice" which had just come out as a single. The release would become known for new songs like "For the Kids" and "Without Warning".

Class Assassins "No Justice" ep

This is the second ep by the Class Assassins, but the first with an intentional release. A new record label with an anti-fascist mission put this out and they are called Insurgence Records. "No Justice, No Peace" is a slogan taken from the anti-racist movement and has been reinterpreted here to threaten class war. Side 2 is a cover of an anti-war song written in the 60's by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. It was a song I learned in grade school so it had a lasting impact that made it into school choirs. The song has a great message about greed and was covered on Direct Action's "Trapped in a world" LP. I think this is a fitting tribute to the bass player's old band by making it a B Side. The song has legs even today and is relevant in the class consciousness that the Class Assassins are going for. (Insurgence Records)

Radio - Sunday, December 2, 2001

CLASS ASSASSINS - Uprise (CIUT)
CLASS ASSASSINS - Behind Your Screen (CIUT)
CLASS ASSASSINS - You Got it All Wrong (CIUT)
CLASS ASSASSINS - Full Control (CIUT)
CLASS ASSASSINS - Without Warning (CIUT)

Zine - EXD, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3

The third issue came out in December 2001. This issue featured an interview with the Class Assasins a band made up of members of Chronic Submission, Direct Action, and Hockey Teeth. They were an anti racist oi band and one of the first to get a release out on Insurgence Records. there is also reviews, show listings, and a rumourmill of news and whatnot.

Zine - EXD, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

This is the very first issue of the radio zine. It was one of the first interviews we did on the show and it was connected to the band playing live in the basement studio at the station known as Studio 3 because it is CIUT's third studio. The live idea came from an old show on About Town, but was also borrowed from John Peel and the sessions he would record with the early punk scene. Interviews often accompanied the live sessions because if you have the band at the station you might as well talk to them. And I wanted more people to find out about these great bands coming out from our city so the zine was born. They were really supposed to be small newsletters as is reflected in the first few issues. This was has just an interview and a few reviews and some other odds and sods.

Class Assassins ep

This is the first Class Assassins release. The band is made up of a number of scene vetereans who have played in the Toronto hardcore scene. I am talking about Dave Cornelius who played bass in the Unknowns and Direct Action, who are one of Toronto's most important hardcore bands. The singer Chad Nugent was in the early rendition of Chronic Submission also arguably one of the most important hardcore bands to ever come out of Toronto. Gary Cozocar was from the pride of Dunnville, Problem Children, who were an incredible hardcore band from my period.

And the brothers Farr were the backbone behind one of the most important hardcore band's to come out of Toronto, which was Hockey Teeth.  Derek Dykeman is a spikey haired guy from Burlington who I grew up going to shows with. He loves the British wave of early hardcore and did a zine called Soap and Spikes. He started up a label by the same name making this the first release and has gone and released half of the first demo. That should tell you that they are British influenced. But to say that they are a oi knock off would do them a disservice. Because there is so many generations of punk involved in this band there is bits and pieces everywhere, but the underlying ties are the roots of bands like Stiff Little Fingers, the Clash, the Ruts, Rudi. They aren't a clone, but they are playing from that admiration and mutual respect of the punks who defined the sound. So there are bits of Dag Nasty thrown in with riffs from SLF. It is part Bad Religion, part the Business. The songs on here are:



1. The Class Assassins
2. Urban Rebel
3. Breakin' Out

The Class Assassins demo

This is the Class Assassins first recording. It was not an official release although it should have been. Derek Dykeman would release three of the songs as a 7", but I like the stark artwork. The band is going for an oi sound but with melody so think the early wave of the UK scene that embodied punk and hardcore.  This was recorded by Vaughn Passmore at his home studio known as Invisible Sound. This is when I first fell in love with this band.  

MRR - Toronto Scene Report - December 2000

I wrote a scene report that appeared in the December 2000 issue of MRR which was issue #211. Click the above image to get a downloadable PDF.