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On January 24th of this year, Nick Smash of the RENT BOYS INC. was in town to do an exhibition on the CLASH and to promote his new book "What You Don't Want is What You Get", which outline his time in England with the RENT BOYS INC. and THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS. He arranged to meet up with Dave Howard to go over the details of that adventure. THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS are an important part of the Toronto post punk scene. This story reflects the flight that creative types undertook to make a go of it. This is a conversation between Nick Smash and Dave Howard telling something akin to road stories which talk about some of these exclusive recordings, stories behind them, influences, and people in the scene that they were apart of in the mid-80s. We get stories about the squats, the rehearsal spaces, folks in the scene. You can download the show here.
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Baby Come Back (live at the Rock Garden on July 4, 1986)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - The Murder of your Smile (live in Manchester on July 26, 1986)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - I Feel Good (live in Manchester on July 26, 1986)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Just Another (live in Manchester on July 26, 1986)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Camberwell (live on the BBC, Janice Long)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Nothing to Say (live in Valencia, Spain)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Nothing to Say (produced by JJ Burnell of the Stranglers)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Plastic Horse ()
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - How Was I to Know ()
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Pleasure of Pain (live in the Netherlands)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Shakin' All Over (live in the Netherlands)
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - The Killing Time
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Rock On
THE DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - Road Warriors
Nick Smash's post punk x-mas party
Tonight's show was an interview with the White Brothers. Simon did a photo exhibition in 2010 called "Toronto Calling" which saw some blown up photos of the Ramones and the Clash in the Steamwhistle building. These early photos captured the first punk bands to play in Toronto. His Brother Nick is known for a fantastic zine he did from 1979 - 1984 called Smash It Up. It was a local zine that covered the early post punk scene so well and incorporated all kinds of journalism as a way of getting the story about these incredible period that the mainstream press couldn't be bothered covering. Nick has been working on this book since the "Toronto Calling" exhibit and has incorporated a cut and paste approach to capturing the period. Nick and Simon spoke with us earlier in the day about this work captured in "Alone and Gone" this brand new book released yesterday. We catalogue clubs, zines, and bands as an approach to trying to capture the time and the developing new sounds coming out of this explosive period. We start off with the Clash show at the O'Keefe Centre and get into the Edge as a centre for shows from 1979-1980. Nick speaks about the role that zines play in developing the scene. the list of zines included Dave MacIntosh's Cause and Effect, Deanna's Schrik, Sounds form the Street, Civil Disobedience, Joannie Morris' All That Jazz, TOHC, Fifth Column's Hide, Red Shoes, this Tiny Donkey, and Goog Poogly. We speak about the reggae scene and the cross pollination with bands like the Young Lions, L'Etranger, Youth Youth Youth, 20th Century Rebels, Truth and Rights, and the mainstreaming with the Parachute Club. I grill Nick about some of the clubs at the time like the Cabana Room, the Palais Royale for out of town ska bands, the basement at the Drake, 100 Bond Street, St. Lawrence Hall for RAR and the Bop Cats, and Exile out on Main Street. We speak about the the paradigm shift that Start Dancing represents in the scene. We speak about the Garys record label that never came about. We speak about the role of the cassette tape in developing the post punk scene. We speak about the phenomenon of outdoor shows in the 80's. We speak about the role that radio had on developing the scene which starts with CFNY and also moves into CKLN. Nick tells us about 291 which was originally known as the Suicide Club and became a punk house that Smash It Up and the Dave Howard lived at. Nicks tells us about the Fifth Column, Hunger Project that went on to become the Cowboy Junkies, the Hi Fis that go on to become Blue Rodeo, the Rheostatics, Handsome Ned, the Sturm Group, Woods are Full of Cuckoos, the Rent Boys Inc., Breeding Ground, Vital Sines, Alta Moda - Molly Johnson's first band, Blank Generation that become United State and then National Velvet, Blibber and the Rat Crashers that become Jolly Tambourine Man, the Lucky Strikes, Mark Malibu and the Wasagas, and Crash Kills Five that becomes Shadowy Men. This is all a preamble to figure out if there is a Toronto sound. Nick tells us the Dave Howard connection to the "Alone and Gone" title. The Playlist for tonight's show is as follows:
THE CLASH - London Calling (CBS)
Interview with Nick and Simon White (CIUT)
DAVE HOWARD SINGERS - They Come They Go (Self-Released)
If you are in Toronto you can get copies of the book at Rotate This.
