Flyer - Sunday, February 17th, 1985

One of the most memorable shows that I attended. Part of a Hardcore Sundays series at Larry's. I think I got one of those discounted tickets from Records on Wheels. FAIR WARNING were kind of basic punk sounding. But the drummer looked like Ian Mackaye and had a similar kind of sense of humour. Very quick witted. And matched the incoming heckling. FAIR WARNING's "You Are the Scene" would become one of my favourite releases at the time and still remains a fucking classic. If you're into early SSD or DYS you'll love it, but at the time I couldn't truly appreciate what I was hearing/seeing. 

Genetic Control came out next. The singer had crimped hair. I got worried that I was going to have to sit through a goth or death rock set. And he had a Montreal Canadians jersey on. Who the fuck was wearing sports gear in the hardcore era? It only dawned on me years later that Larry's was close to Maple Leaf Gardens and a Habs jersey would have been one of the punkest things to wear given the sports rivalry between Toronto and Montreal. I hadn't heard their ep or their track on "Primitive Air Raid". "Suburban Life" remains a highlight with the crying as the chorus. And the band did an encore of Bad Brains songs. I didn't know who BAD BRAINS were at the time so the special ness of the whole thing was lost on me, but not on the crowd who went crazy. 

Learned so much that night. Think I missed Dead End because it was a school night so I had to get home. 

V/A "Primitive Air Raid" LP

Primitive Air Raid is the first record of it's kind in Montreal. It is a random sample of Montreal's unrecorded underground. A few alternative bands made the record, but largely this represented the underground. the scene in Montreal has been alive for years. S.C.U.M. was asked to particpate but had difficulties retreiving their recording so they missed the deadline. Violent Meals went to Europe and forgot to leave their tape. Porcelain Forehead were from Ottawa and Direct Action were from Toronto. Both bands played a benefit show for the comp and as a result were added to this comp. This classic comp was the first release by Psyche Records who would go on to produce a number of other releases mostly of Montreal bands.

Jeff Bale reviewed the comp in MRR as "An excellent cross-section of Montreal-area bands, most of which haven't released any vinyl before. From the thrash of DIRECT ACTION and NO POLICY to the chunky pop-punk of the NILS to AMERICAN DEVICES' weird, rockin' stuff to fast punk by GENETIC CONTROL, the ABSURDS, and FAIR WARNING to the garage punk of PORCELAIN FOREHEAD to MORBID FIRE's experimental garage thrash, this album provides listening enjoyment. The only musical letdowns are art- damaged numbers by ≠ and IAGO NEON. The ASEXUALS, on the other hand, provide the lyrical low-point with their imbecilic pro-contra chant; their line "political morons without a fucking clue" must be autobiographical, since they apparently know nothing about Nicaragua, American foreign policy, or the circle-A which they employ in their moniker." (from Maximum Rocknroll #19, November 1984)

The songs on here are:

1. Asexuals - Contra-Rebels

2. Fair Warning - Six O'Clock Blues

3. Fair Warning - Open Your Eyes

4. Vomit and the Zits - Suicide

5. Vomit and the Zits - What the Hell

6. Porcelain Forehead - Cold Steak

7. Absurds - Moral Feedback

8. Absurds - Futur's Nature

9. Genetic Control - Suburban Life

10. Direct Action - Hate Generation

11. American Devices - Spontaneous Combustion

12. The Nils - Call of the Wild

13. Red Shift - Underflesh

14. Iago Neon - Preliterate Robot

15. Morbid Fiesta - Le Nul Parfait

16. No Policy - News or Propaganda

17. Does not Equal - Emotion 9

MRR Review - Various Artists "Primitive Air Raid" LP

Jeff Bale wrote this review for MRR of the Montreal comp. This appeared in issue #19, which came out in November 1984. Click on image to enlarge it to a readable size.

Flyer - Thursday October 4, 1984

Flyer - Monday, May 28th, 1984

Flyer - Monday March 12, 1984

Here is the flyer for this first show. Below is a schedule for Hardcore Monday Night.

Flyer - Saturday March 10, 1984

Flyer - Monday February 20, 1984

Scene Report - Montreal / BC Scene report

The Montreal scene report is well written and talks about the origins of punk in Montreal and then gets into the curent scene back in 1984 which featured Unruled, S.C.U.M., the Nils, the Discords, Vomit and the Zits, No Policy, and Fair warning among others. The BC scene report talks about the "Bloodied But Unbowed" release and "General Strike" as being recent releases for DOA. There was also a Youth Youth Youth ad for the "Sin" 12". Click on the images to enlarge them to a readable size.