Flyer - Saturday March 24, 2001

Victorian Pork CD

VICTORIAN PORK were originally a fuck band from Vancouver. Fuck bands were impromptu bands put together by folks in the Vancouver scene so that they would have bands to fill out the bill. They weren’t meant to be taken seriously and they weren’t supposed to have much of a life outside of one or two gigs. This particular fuck band bucked the trend. Started in 1977 they had Joey Shithead playing drums, Dimwit playing bass, Brad Kent who played in the SKULLS and a host of others. Like every good fuck band the line up evolved with Tony Bardach taking over bass duties. who would go on to play in the POINTED STICKS. There are some great photos of the original VICTORIAN PORK on Scott Beadle’s myspace site at http://www.myspace.com/sbeadle. There was a song that got released on a bootleg of the original band. The band had a life span of about four months by the band’s own admission. In 1999, Tony’s daughter Alexa was on Nardwuar’s radio show playing stuff from Tony’s collection and Brad Kent heard the program. Brad contacted Tony and they got Alexa to sing and voila VICTORIAN PORK have reformed. This is a full length of material which really sounds like DOA / SUBHUMANS material with Penelope Houston of the AVENGERS fronting them. The song “Bad” sounds remarkably like DOA’s RCMP. I guess it makes sense given the band’s origins. Good luck tracking this down because it is a DIY release and I don’t think they are playing out any more. But I did find this website on them at http://www.troopertribute.com/vicpork.htm with a rolling script for the band history a la Star Wars. The songs on here are:

1. Do What I Feel

2. Miller Time

3. Bad

4. I just wanna Beer

5. Pretty Girls

6. Buzzcocks

7. Wanna Do

8. Hey Hey

9. Don't Want

10. You Know

11. Nike Stole my Smoke

12. Nite cafe

13. Silence

Various Artists "Killed by Hardcore" LP

This was a new series of bootlegs that focused on the early hardcore scene. This series didn't take off like the Killed by Death series did, but there were a couple. This was the first and it contained a trackin by Montreal's Genetic Control.

No Warning ep

The above artwork is the original artwork for the Martyr release. The second scan is a tour release the band made. 400 copies of the tour release exist.

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

DFA "Destined for Assimilation" 12"

This was an a amazing band from Regina, Saskatchewn. Not many band scome from Saskatchewan. So when they played heavy crossover similar to BEYOND POSSESSION or the ACCUSED I was pretty floored. Not only did they play a genre of hardcore but they played it well. It is was a sound that was in a rennaissance with bands like HOLIER THAN THOU, paying tribute to metal and hardcore from back in the mid-80s. Crossover skate thrash from the 80's that borrowed from speedmetal. Lots of chugging crunchy riffing played as fast as one can. Vocals are flat and throaty, shouted with fervour. The themes have a hardcore scene awareness. Lots of twisty parts played with girth. But in listening to this against the early crossover, DFA stands up because it doesn't get caught up in the technical nature of metal - the music stays quick paced and flows despite the twists. They did a Left for Dead copver live so they are obviously an influence. Ugly Pop released this first record and the songs on here are:

1. Destined for Assimilation

2. With a Straight Face

3. Hypocrite

4. Nerve

5. Our Lord and Saviour

6. Your Form of Unity

7. Under the influence

8. I Know Everything