Tuesday, December 21, 1982

Rent Boys "Pictish" ep


The Rent Boys were from Toronto and recorded and mixed this at Wellesley Studio in June of 1982 by Jeff McCulloch. Members in this band were Simon deNeuf on vocals, Brat X on bass, Howeird Zephyr on sax, Mikal C. on drums, and Nick Smash on percussion. The songs on here are:

1. Pictish
2. No Grat

Blue Peter "Up To You" 12"

Blue Peter were more along the lines of a new wave band and fit more in with bands like the Sharks, Martha and the Muffins, and the Spoons. This was their second release and it came out on Ready records which was the same label as the Demics 12". The songs on here are:
1. Up To You
2. Chinese Graffiti
3. Guilty Secret
4. Around You
5. The World Stops Here
6. Up to U

Wednesday, December 15, 1982

Youth Youth Youth "Pop Song", "Greed", "White Reggae", and "Why Pay More"



Rare footage of YYY performing "POP SONG", "GREED", "WHITE REGGAE", and "WHY PAY MORE" at Larrys Hideaway, Toronto. December 15th 1982.

Monday, December 13, 1982

The Neos "Hassibah Gets the Martian Brain Squeeze" ep

Explanation for how the Neos write songs


Lyrics for songs 1 through 6
Music notes for songs 1 through 6
Lyrics for songs 7 through 12

Music notes for songs 7 through 12

Lyrics for songs 13 and 14

Music notes for songs 13 and 14

This is the Neos second ep originally released on Alachander Records. The original lyrics sheets had music sheets on the other side of each song. It looks like the band actually wrote out what they played so you could figure it out but this could also be a joke. This recording was co-produced by Rob Wright of NoMeansNo fame. The songs on here are:

1. Destruct
2. They'll Destroy Themselves
3. (Almost) Typical, Obligatory Anti-Government song
4. Ambitious
5. Where Did you Go Wrong?
6. Just Like All the Rest
7. Look Ahead in Despair
8. Conscripts
9. Jungle Beat - So It Seems
10. Other World
11. Opposition to All Violence, Even if Committed in Self-Defense
12. Die For the Cause
13. Ripped Off
14. Sexual Revolution

Saturday, December 4, 1982

Flyer - Saturday December 4, 1982

The Young Lions open up for the Dischords from Montreal at the Edgewater (14 Roncesvalles Avenue).

Friday, November 26, 1982

Friday, November 19, 1982

Flyer - Friday November 19, 1982

CFNY was an FM station that used to play a lot of punk. So it was not unusual to see CFNY on some flyers before they became a money hungry alternative corporate multi-national broadcaster. Well CFNY put on a dance out at the Oakville Masonic Temple and the Young Lions and Zeroption got to play.

Tuesday, November 9, 1982

Diodes "Survivors"


This is a 1982 collection of outtakes on the Canadian Fringe Records label. Among some spicy originals like "Burn Down Your Daddy's House, and the title track, the Diodes take on the Stones, The Animals, and Shocking Blue, the latter beating Bananarama and Nirvana to the punch by several years.

01. Survivors
02. When I Was Young
03. Hot Sands
04. Heat or the Beat
05. Lost In the Dark
06. Burn Down Your Daddy's House
07. Curiosity Girl
08. Roses and Thorns
09. Coma
10. Play With Fire

Sunday, November 7, 1982

L'Etranger "Innocent Hands" 12"


L'Etranger self-released a 12" in 1982 called "Innocent Hands". Their label was called Ground Zero Records. The folks in the band were Andrew Cash on guitar and vocals, Peter Duffin on drums and vocals, and Chuck Angus on bass and vocals. No Cause for a Concern reviewed the 12" very favourably. The songs on the 12" were:

1. Today's Papers
2. Took What Didn't Belong
3. Not Seeing Us
4. Goliath
5. Barricades
6. Taken Away

Monday, October 18, 1982

Flyer: Monday October 18, 1982

Here is a flyer for a show in London, Ontario around the same time that "War on 45" was coming out.

Saturday, October 16, 1982

Teenage Head "Some Kinda Fun" CD

This was originally released in 1982 by Attic Records and continued to have some great tracks by the band. The band recently re-issued this as a CD. A zine from Ottawa called No Cause for Concern reviewed the album. Songs found on here include:

1. Drivin' Wild (My Invader)
2. Let's Go to Hawaii
3. Sheila Scarf
4. Want you to Know
5. Teenage Beer Drinking Party
6. Shag Shack
7. Sick Little Man
8. Some Kinda Fun
9. Fist to Face
10. Don't Toy with Me
11. Let it Show

Friday, October 8, 1982

Flyer - The Young Lions

The Young Lions play with the Subverts from Chicago. This looks like it is a poster for multiple cities. Not sure of the date or locales.

Young Lions "Freedom? What Freedom?" cassette


This looks to be the Young Lions second cassette release. The recording was also in 1982 and was recorded at Accusonic Sound. The band was know a three piece and would remain a three piece featuring Mike McCurdy on guitars and vocals, Chris Genest on bass and vocals, and Steve Kuzell on drums. This release looked to be a four song cassette featuring the songs:
1. Young Amerika
2. National Security
3. Royal Killers
4. Pray for Julie

Tuesday, October 5, 1982

Dead End - Youth Now cassette


Dead End were part of the first wave of hardcore bands in Toronto. They had two full length cassette releases. "Youth Now" was the first of them put out on Brain taylor's label N.R.K. The catalogue number is NRK 004. Tim Yohannon of MRR described the tape as "Another mostly mid-tempo punk band from Canada. Dead End have more of a skunk sound. Some of the songs are quite long and rockish, which isn't to my personal liking, but "No Rights" is totally great." MRR #11, January / February 1984. The titles on this release are:

1. Youth Now
2. Don't Talk Politics
3. Rock vs. Racism
4. No Rights
5. Soldier Boy
6. Depression
7. Government, You and Me
8. Death Game
9. The Children
10. We're Not Dead
11. Put Up a Fight

Like all good releases this was self-released. Here is the lyric sheet that accompanied the release.

Monday, October 4, 1982

Dead End "Youth Now" cassette lyrics



Here are the lyric sheets for Dead End's "Youth Now" cassette scanned by Rasta Boy Hugo. Thanks man. In colour no less.

Wednesday, September 1, 1982

Shades Magazine was a publication from Toronto that covered punk back in the early days. they were a tabloid size and as a result were taken seriously as they were printed on a printing press. This is issue 25 which came out in September 1982. The issue contained interviews with Billy Idol, Stray Cats, Haircut 100, Duran Duran, Jim Carroll, Los Microwaves, and Nina Hagen. Locally this issue covered the Rent Boys Inc, Breeding ground, the Payolas, and the Ugly Ducklings. There is an article reviewing zines from Toronto that were out at the time and a feature on Maximumrocknroll, which would become the hardcore zine that would become the benchmark for hardcore zines to follow. 

Monday, August 2, 1982

Youth Youth Youth demo 1982

Recorded at Accusonic in June 1982. The demo was reviewed by No Cause for a Concern back in the day.

Tim Yohannon of MRR described the tape as "A really great thrash outfit from the Toronto area. The instrumentation is more than competent, but the lyrics are what really stand out--intelligent, committed, positive, and deliberate. Excellent!" (from Maximum Rock'n'Roll #4, January/February 1983)

The songs on here are:
1. Why Pay More
2. Pop Song
3. Whose Rights
4. Civil Disobedience
5. Apathy
6. Blue Stain
7. Greed
8. The One in the Middle
9. Domination

Wednesday, July 28, 1982

Flyer - Wednesday July 28, 1982

This was a big deal of a show. I remember seeing interviews with punks at the show on the New music. This one girl was wowed that Jello kicked her in the head. But I also heard a story from Rob Mallion of Youth Youth Youth about how their singer wasn't able to make the show. Chris Genest of the Young Lions talked about how Mike McCurdy filled in on voacls for Youth Youth Youth at the last moment. Chris also spoke about how some illusions about punk bands working together were shattered at that show as the Jello went back to the promoter looking for more money and left it so the local bands were unpaid. That's kind of shitty. No Cause for Concern wrote a review of the show.

Sunday, July 11, 1982

Flyer - Wednesday July 11 - Thursday July 12, 1982

The Viletones line up with half of the Ugly in the band. This show was at Larry's.

Flyer - Friday July 9, 1982

The Young Lions and Zeroption play at the Dovercourt Hotel. Not sure where this was.