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This would have been one of No Means No's shows and it would have been after "Sex Mad" and before "Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed". No Means No were always great. This flyer courtesy of the archives from Noxious Art.
This was the first appearance in Toronto of the Henry Rollins group. It was the first year after Black Flag broke up and I remember Jill heath working the door. I didn't have enough money to get in and she let me in anyways. I wasn't sure what to expect and I think "Hot Animal Machine" was about to come out so that was the material performed at the show. I went to the matinee show. Circus Lupus were the band that morphed out of Mike Marley and the Sailors and would become Rocktopus after Jonathon Cummings moved to Montreal to join the Doughboys. This flyer is courtesy of the archives of Noxious Art.
This is issue #20 of Smash It Up, which is a Toronto punk fanzine put out by Nick Smash. This issue came out in December 1981. The issue starts out with a road trip diary for the Young Lions and 20th Century Rebels for a nuclear disarmament benefit show they play in Montreal. It didn't go so well.
There is an article on the Professionals who played the Voodoo Club. there is bits of an interview with Paul Cook in the piece.
There is an interview with Simple Minds who are from Scotland. This was the second time they had come to Toronto and was around the time that "Sons of Fascination / Sister Feelings Call" had come out because the band talks about it in the interview. They are pretty chatty and down to earth which is surprising to me because I saw them play Maple Leaf Gardens when they were a bit full of themselves and scolded the audience for coming up on stage. Difficult to think of them as the same band.
There is an update on Toots and the Maytals who had broken up and then gotten a new band together to come back up to Toronto. This is the man who wrote "Pressure Drop". There is a lengthy interview with Echo and the Bunnymen at their second show which took place at the El Mocambo. I think all the shows were happening there after the Edge closed down.
Jill Heath does an interview with the Young Lions where she starts out with the show in Montreal. They also cover:
- the song "United"
- the song "Goodnight Belfast"
- the Toronto Sun newspaper
- the song "One Little Nazi"
- and a big show they have organized featuring seven of Toronto's newest punk bands.
Jill Heath also does an interview with the ska band from Vancouver called the Villains. it was at a sold out show at the Masonic Temple on November 14th, 1981 and they were booked to come back for the end of December to play the Headspace for 8 days which was unheard of back then.
There is an update on Toots and the Maytals who had broken up and then formed with a new line up. This is the guy who wrote "Pressure Drop".
There is an article written about Youth Youth Youth, which is one of the only pieces I have ever seen written about what I would consider Canada's best hardcore band. The article provides some insight into motivations behind their songs and some interpretation into lyrics. There are a couple of quotes from Rob Mallion the guitarist and they mention that the third issue of Civil Disobedience had come out. They refer to Civil Disbobedience as a political zine that members of the band published.
There are some record reviews of John Foxx of Ultravoxx and Bow Wow Wow.
There is an interview with a band from Toronto called Boys Brigade. They sound like a percussion based dance new wave band similar to bands like Bow Wow Wow or Pigbag or Parachute Club or Norda. There was lots of other bands doing that same sound. Boys Brigade formed out of members of Arson and the Androids. I don't think they ever went anywhere because I never heard of anything about them outsude of this interview.
There is a write up on the Pinkertones who relocated to Toronto from Halifax.
There is an interesting scene report on Liverpool that writes about bands like Big in Japan, the Spitfire Boys, Crucial Three, the Nova Mob, the ID which became OMD, Dalek I Love You, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Teardrop Explodes.
There is a show review of Siouxsie and the Banshees at the El Mocambo.
There is a review of a Start Dancing show at a hall on Claremont that motsly describes the V-Necks.
There is also a review of an Iggy Pop show at the Music Hall.
Stir It Up looks like a version of Nick Smash's Smash It Up. Stir It Up is pretty close in name and would be a clever play on the name Smash It Up. And there is lots of reggae content inside this issue which justifies the Bob Marley song title. In fact there is a review of a Bob Marley tribute concert inside that took place at a club that I have never heard of called Fourth World (167 Church Street). The show took place on May 17th which is close to Bob marley's birthday and featured Toronto reggae acts Truths and Rights, 20th Century Rebels, and Leroy Sibbles.
There is other reggae content like the intro and quick interview with a white reggae band called the Customers. There is a piece on another little known band Bloodfire. And there is an interview with the drummer from Steel Pulse, which may be the same interview as the one found in Rebel Music.
Interestingly, this issue also features a lot of punk bands that had reggae influences like Stiff Little Fingers or had interesting bass sounds like Gang of Four. The zine starts out with an interview with JJ Burnell from the Stranglers who I learned recently tried to play bass like he was performing at a Jamaican dancehall. The interviewer wanted to find out how much they were into UFO theories with the Meninblack theme. But JJ really wanted to discuss the validity of sub sonic sounds which is really about getting back to his thoughts on bass playing when you think about it.
There is a handwritten interview with Andy Gill who plays guitar in Gang of Four. They played a number of times in Toronto and this show was on Canada Day in 1981.
There is a review on a show that closed the Edge, which had a certain Last Pogo symmetry to it because it was he garys and it was the club they went to after they left the Horseshoe which was signified by that Last Pogo show.
There is an interview with Teardrop Explodes that looks like it is printed on fullscap and the quality is difficult to read. Someone had access to school equipment. There is a review section which fits in with a lot of new wave releases that came out at the time. I totally enjoyed reliving those and they included reviews of the Cramps, the Stray Cats, Killing Joke, Kraftwerk, Simple Minds, Pig Bag, Siouxie and the Banshees, Wasted Youth, Dead or Alive and Basement 5, which is the first review I have ever read of Basement 5. This demontrates how broad the spectrum of punk was back then. It also explains the interview with Kinetic Ideals which is the only interview i have read of the band. They were a new wave band from Mississauga, who had their own release and I would see their flyers when I was first getting into punk. And this is one of the things that I really appreciate about the zine. it covers lots of old Toronto punk including ads for old punk stores like the Record Peddler or Vortex or even Hot Wax, which I never heard of.
There is a great piece on a Stiff Little Fingers show that sounds like it was a regional appearance because kids from Montreal came down to see it. The show was at the El Mocambo and the piece spends a lot of time slagging the bouncers who weren't letting kids in. Some of those kids started a fire in the back alley of the club and the fire department got called, but it didn't seem to effect the show. The show happened on Monday June 29th (1981).
This issue also has the best interview that i have ever read with Vancouver's DOA. The interview has Joey Shithead, Randy Rampage, Dave Gregg, and Chuck Biscuits.
There is also an interview with a little known band rom Pittsburgh called Carsickness. They came up to the play with the Fall.
Thanks to Dhaibid James (Moondog Ballroom) for the loan of the issue to scan and put up.
