This is the broadcast for Equalizing-X-Distort on Sunday, June 23rd, 2013. Summer has arrived in Toronto so we had two sets inspired by the first of the season's hot weather. We got to feature unreleased Left for Dead, new Infest and No Mistake and play a new release that Greg Ginn appears on. You can hear the show using the player above or download an MP3 of the EXD from Sunday, June 23rd, 2013. URBAN REJECTS - Intro / the Blame (Steeltown Records) CEASE AND RESIST - Bangers (Self-Released) LOUDMOUTH - 10% (Steeltown Records) THE CLASH - The Guns of Brixton (Epic) BATTERED WIVES - Uganda Stomp (Bomb) RESTARTS - Painterman (No Label) BURIAL PERMIT - Writhe (Self-Released) LEFT FOR DEAD - Track 8 (Unreleased) INFEST - Why be something that you're not (Draw Blank) NO MISTAKE - copied, Folded and Stapled (Self-Released) REAL SHIT - Mad Garlic (Mickeyroom) GAS CHAMBER - Pidgeon (Warm Bath) THE FILTHY GAZE OF EUROPE - Domestic Accidents (Ugly Pop) ALBION GOLD - Unforgiving Eyes (Self-Released) VCR - I don't wanna cry (Self-Released) LIBYAN HIT SQUAD - Full Circle MADMEN - Too Hot (Slasher) GEORGE HARRISON - We Love Summer (Self-Released) GO! - Long Hot Summer (Forefront) VOID -Summer Sucks (Weekend Pass) THE UNDERTONES - Here comes the summer (Sire) DISCO VOLANTE - Hellraising is my business (Einstein) ACID - Free Speech (Selfish) INSOLENTS - Phone Call Love (Mystic) REVENGE - Pornography (Loony) HAPPY TOONS - Today's Army (Landmind) PREMATURE BABY'S - Who Died for you (Depression) N.O.T.A. - Frustration (Rabid Cat) CRASH THE POSE - 10 Year Celebration (Keep Screaming) THE SINS - Fighting in the USA (Black Noise) UG MAN - ? (625 Productions) EVIL GRIMACE - Out of Breathe (with the world) AVFALL - Endless circulation (Don Don) SPIKE HAYTRID - Death to Preppies (Chainsaw) BIG TAKEOVER - Poster Boy MISGUIDED - State of War (Reality) MALIGNUS - Powertrip (Youth) DAYGLO ABORTIONS - I used to be in love (God) CRUDDY - Berlin Wall (Basement Scream) MY DOG'S A CAT - Necrology (Unsilent) BRAIN SLUG - Distort New York (Hardware) UPFRONT - How flies get fat DISGUST - Destroy Fascism (Limbabwe) CELEBRITY MURDERS - Victim Culture (Reptilim) SCAPEGOATS - Du Selbst (Dissonance) INTEGRITY - Sanctuary (Victory) Tonight's demo feature comes recommended by Proxy with a band from Montreal called Thee Nodes. You can download this demo at their bandcamp site. THEE NODES - Future Car (Self-Released) THEE NODES - We are the Nodes (Self-Released) THEE NODES - Shut Up (Self-Released) THEE NODES - My Mask (Self-Released) THEE NODES - Living like a corpse (Self-Released)
This feels like
a book that is part of a series. In 2003, MCR published Inferno Punx, which was
a photo book capturing the Japanese scene. Inferno Punx captured bands from
1989 to 2003 and it was pretty incredible. Ten years on MCR is publishing this
new book. This book contains photos by Fuyuki Kataoka. This book has no photo captions,
no explanations, nor any diary outtakes. It is just photos. This has me looking
at the pictures extra carefully looking for clues on who is in the photo. There
is an index at the back of the book but I didn’t find this on the first few
leaf throughs. Most of the photos are black and white shots, which adds a starkness
to the shots that is well suited for punk. Some of these photos date back to
1999 at the earliest. Some of the bands captured in this book are FRAMTID,
WARHEAD, PERSEVERE, LAUKAUS, REALITY CRISIS, FUCK GEEZ, POIKKEU, and countless
others. There are a lot of close ups of singers in mid action so Fuyuki must
have been in the pit when he was trying to capture these moments. They are
incredibly animated. There are also lots of pictures that look like they are
set up shots with bands and punks in street scapes that remind me of the
classic shots of the SEX PISTOLS and the CLASH and the BUZZCOCKS in those professional
glossy punk magazines that you find out before you find out about fanzines.
What I am trying to say is that these look like classic shots of a more recent
scene proving punk’s not dead. But we didn’t need the EXPLOITED to tell us
that. Photo and Destroy is unrefutable evidence. (MCR Company – 157 Kamiago
Maizuri / Kyoto 624-0913 / Japan / www.dance.ne.jp/~mcr/)
This is the broadcast for Equalizing-X-Distort on Sunday June 16th, 2013. The program featured a new band from Toronto called Anti-Vibes who have successfully fused early Black Flag with grunge to come up with an engaging new sound of punk. The band is interviewed and we played material from a recording we did last Tuesday of the band. We also feature some new Hard Skin, new Proxy and the 222's who were in town last night. Not to mention a new band with a member of the Rock n roll Bitches called Shit from Hell with a song about Mayor Rob Ford from Toronto. The demo feature is a band from Brookline Mass called Ancient Filth. You can listen to the show on the player above or download it as an MP3 file. ANTI-VIBES - Fix Me (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Slaughter Track (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Marky Mark (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Agent Cooper (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Souled Out (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Tele-Evangelist (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Growth Hormone (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Sex Doll (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Amateur Eye Surgery (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Laughter House (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - Interview (CIUT)
ANTI-VIBES - War, on drugs (CIUT) 222s - Female (Sonik's Chicken Shrimp)
SHIT FROM HELL - Mayor on Crack (Self-Released)
HARD SKIN - Sausage Man (JT Classics)
PROXY - Wasted Days (Imminent Destruction / Inflammable Material)
Tonight's demo feature is by a band from Brookline, Mass called Ancient Filth. The demo is titled "The illusion of freedom is Control" and can be downloaded at http://ancientfilth.bandcamp.com/album/the-illusion- of-freedom-is-control. You should download it because a couple of songs got cut off from the demo we played on the show just because we ran out of time.
ANCIENT FILTH - Kill the Judge (Self-Released)
ANCIENT FILTH - Black Liquid Death (Self-Released)
ANCIENT FILTH - Egokill (Self-Released)
ANCIENT FILTH - Fuck with Life (Self-Released)
ANCIENT FILTH - Culture is not your friend (Self-Released)
Tonight was a pretty eye opening session with a new local band that took me by
surprise. The band features Claire Whaatever on vocals, Sean Kennedy on guitar, Cam Hulbert on bass, and Clay Wilson on drums. The band embodies a pre-Damaged era Black Flag evidenced by a cover in the below set. They also employ some free spirit noise in the vein of Rudimentary Peni. The sum results in a heavy and punishing punk beat that backs unique twists on some traditional punk themes. Recorded by Jonathon Hawkes, this session includes the following songs:
This is for Equalizing-X-Distort's broadcast on Sunday June 9th, 2013. The show mixes lots of old, new and songs sparked by current events whether they be about our Mayor or about Chaos in Tejas. Listen to the show from Sunday, June 9th or click on the player above. GAG ORDER - Land of the Free (Self-Released) MINUTEMEN - Corona (SST) THE EX - Knock (Self-Released) NOMEANSNO - Paradise (Alternative Tentacles) BIG BOYS - Prison (Touch 'n Go) GANG OF FOUR - Return the Gift (EMI) PEDESTRIANS - Suicide (World is Round) AMOUR - Hanei (MCR Company) NEIGHBORHOOD BRATS - Birth Right (Deranged) HARD SKIN - The Man who ran the town (JT Classics) CRACKS AND SCARS - Rotten to the core (Steeltown) BLACK FLAG - Jealous Again (SST) WHITE LUNG - I Rot (Deranged) DELINQUINTS - Holidays (Self-Released) DOWNBELOWS - 52 Pickup with your Teeth (October 32) SUPERSUCKERS - Creepy Jackelope Eye (Sub Pop) X - Los Angeles (Slash) COLD WARPS - Let's Just Fun (Self-Released) VINCAS - Hell Ride (Douche Master) SAINTS - River Deep Mountain High (Sire) CRAMPS - Human Fly (Slash) DAMNED - Problem Child (Stiff) CENTURIES OF WAR - Centuries of War (Crust War) TERVEET KADET - Alien (Propaganda) THE REACT - Sounds that I've Heard (La-Ti-Da) SNFU - A hole in your sole (Self-Released) 222'S - First to Third Round (Sonik's Chicken Shrimp) POINTED STICKS - Somebody's Mom (Ugly Pop) TRANZMITORS - Concrete Depression (La-Ti-Da) GOD'S AMERICA - Dale Nixon (a389) TRIAC - Tick / Cutter (Regurgitated Semen) VILE INTENT - Front (Choking Hazard) Pillage are a new band from Chicago featuring former members of CHARLES BRONSON, LOS CRUDOS, MK ULTRA, PUNCH IN THE FACE and that is just from one member. The band also features members of SICK/TIRED who did that split with OXBAKER.
PILLAGE - Intro (Self-Released) PILLAGE - Dark Road (Self-Released) PILLAGE - Their World (Self-Released) PILLAGE - Head In The Sand (Self-Released) PILLAGE - One Day (Self-Released) PILLAGE - Trickle Down (Self-Released) PILLAGE - I would rather be alone (https://soundcloud.com/sick-tired/pillage-i-would-rather-be) PILLAGE - Bleeding Inside (Self-Released) PILLAGE - Starvation (Siege) (Self-Released) PILLAGE - Indoctrinated (https://soundcloud.com/ebrovirumbrales/pillage-indoctrinated)
The Stranglers have just released their 17th album to date and are approaching their fortieth year as a band. The Stranglers were one of my first introductions into punk. The song “I feel like a wog” is the perfect pogo beat. The song “Down in the Sewer” is one of the best metaphors for an underground subculture. The first album is the taxonomic name for a rat which became the official punk mascot and pet. The band pissed off everyone and were true punk pioneers whether they agree with the label or not. They still shaped punk in ways that still define the genre today. Here is a conversation with Jean-Jacques Burnell and Baz Warne from Friday May 31st the day of the gig at the Danforth Music Hall. Or you can download the entire show mixed with old, new and rare material. THE STRANGLERS - Down in the Sewer (United Artists) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Freedom is Insane (Fontana / Maple Music) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Giants (Fontana / Maple Music) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Hanging Around (United Artists) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Peaches (United Artists) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - I feel like a WOG (United Artists) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - No More Heroes (United Artists) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Nice `n` Sleazy (Live at Battersea Park) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Tank (Live at the Horseshoe Tavern - April 14th, 1978) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Who wants the world (Live at the Masonic Temple - November 26th, 1980) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Another Camden Afternoon (Fontana) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS -Time was once on my side (Fontana) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Mercury's Rising (Fontana) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - 15 Steps to Heaven (Fontana) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Boom Boom (Fontana) THE STRANGLERS - Interview (CIUT) THE STRANGLERS - Get a Grip (United Artists) THE STRANGLERS - Burning Up Time (United Artists) THE STRANGLERS - Bring on the Nubiles (United Artists)
This is a very interesting side project involvng member of Forgotten Rebels. Schizophrenic is behind the release. MRR is behind this review which appears in the June 2013 issue (#361).
This is the follow up to the Kleins 96 split 10" and Schizephrenic is behind this band from Hamilton. This review is from MRR in June 2013 (Issue #361).
Part of the goth inspired punk sounds from Vancouver this is Spectres latest full length. Deranged puts it out. MRR Reviews this in the June issue (#361).
Rapid Loss are from Alberta. They self-released an ep a year or two back. This represents the band's first full length. MRR reviews the LP in the June issue (#361)
The Endless Blockade have long been broken up, but some earlier recorded material finds its way on this split. This review appeared in the June issue of MRR (#361).
This was the first time I got to see the Stranglers and they played a lot of material from their back catalogue to keep a fan like me happy. I was nervous because the band was over here promoting their new release "Giants" which has some elements of their early material but has a lot more aurally sculpted pieces that would make them at home with fans of Leonard Cohen and Lou Reed. There was a lot of things to be excited about. The first was that this was at the Danforth Music Hall. As a kid the Music Hall had become a rundown movie theatre where the "Song Remains the Same" and "Rocky Horror Picture Show" would play late night on Saturday night and became a place to drink and get high. In more recent times the theatre had been upgraded be a second run theatre in the festival chain and I will never forget it for being able to catch "Gummo" at. But the Danforth Music Hall does have a punk past. The Viletones played there for some CFNY Thursday Night Live simulcast where they came out as a rockabilly band following in Teenage Head's footsteps. I believe this was the show where they opened up for Gang of Four and the Buzzcocks and the original screening of the Last Pogo (http://www.thelastpogo.net/tag/the-roxy-theatre-toronto/). Have a look at the show flyer found at http://equalizingxdistort.blogspot.ca/1979/09/flyer-friday-september-7-1979.html. Punk had a life at the Music Hall and seems to be making a comeback in recent times with shows by Ceremony and Hot Water Music also recently playing here. The place is pretty nice looking. But I was more anxious to see JJ Burnel who is one of the only original members in the line up. And I have to say he was pretty reserved except for when he moved to center stage and started pounding on his bass for the introduction to "No More Heroes" at the end. It makes sense. In an interview I did with them earlier in the day JJ had been holding his knee. It was bothering him. He explained that he had surgery on it recently and I wondered if it had been years of his martial arts training catching up with him. The band explained earlier about how this was a song about anti-heroes, which made me think of Glenn Friedman's book "Fuck You Heros". In some ways this is the same work. The Stranglers started out with three songs in a row and then Baz, the singer made a comment about that lead him to talk about how beautiful the women were in Toronto. It made me think of how I prefaced the question to "Peaches" in that interview. Baz turned it into a warning for the crowd that if they were to call him on a comment like that for being sexist, they should realize they have come to a Stranglers gig. But they didn't play "Peaches" until later in the set. They did play "Nuclear Device" early on and I had forgotten just how popular a song this was. It was great to hear it live but I do remember the song getting FM airplay when it had come out in 1979 on "IV". The song was re-purposed for an awareness compilation in 1981 called "Life in the European Theatre" which also had commercially successful bands on it like Peter Gabriel and Madness and this was seen as the band selling out. Or perhaps taking an important message to a bigger audience. But hearing the song so many years later it reminded me of that piece that Michael Moore had put together of the U.S.'s nuclear programming being stripped down and sold for parts to citizens who in turn were selling it to countries possibly not so friendly with the US. A case of giving them enough rope to hang themselves and even made it as a scene in his film "Canadian Bacon". Regardless, I had been given a second chance at hearing just how great and catchy this song was.
But I grew up the first two albums by the Stranglers. That's where I find meaning in the Strangler's body of work. I have given up on the band by "Black and White". So I was happy when they launched into "Get a Grip" and how I had not had a chance to ask them about this song in the interview earlier that day. There was no saxophone for the live performance, which is just as well. And when they band broke for a breather after this song they did so to a rousing applause. It was like Hugh Cornwell wasn't even missed. Baz was very animated and doing a great job as a frontman. And I was thinking there was no reason for him to be re-living "Mercury Rising" which is a song off the new album written about being pushed by the audience to not fill Hugh's boots. I think he did a great job, but I never got to see Hugh Cornwell before. Ad they did get to that number but without the explanation. There was no need for one. As I was awash with what seemed like a Stranglers Greatest Hits set I was trying to figure out what songs I should try and include in Sunday night's broadcast. Lots of the material would come from the discussion. I had never worked up the nerve to ask about "Bring on the Nubiles" and thought maybe I could work it in by playing it as an opening song. Eventually I went with "Down in the Sewer" because it had the rat innuendo and the song is a metaphor for an underground music scene. "Down in the Sewer" also has some reggae upstrokes with guitar parts which would work better as a transition song from a jungle show which is based around reggae. I had also contemplated "Something Better Change" which was great in the live setting. Midway through the set I noticed that the band was all dressed in black in keeping with their espionage theme of the Men in Black. Dave Greenfield is the oner surviving member of the band. He no longer sports a full head of hair that would be his trademark mushroom top look. Nor does he sport the moustache that would make the Stranglers such a mismatched look. But he can still play or maybe program because there was times when he was playing with one hand something that sounded impossible to play. He was even showing off how he could drink with one hand while playing stupidly difficult parts in his amped up version of psychedelia. But no one seemed to think they were being cheated like people did when Pete Shelley came here for his "Homosapiens" tour and played in front of a big reel-to-0reel machine by his loansome. That had the daily papers writing a headline of "Is it live or is it Memorex', which was the slogan of a audio cassette brand at the time. I guess in an age where music is portable they are just impressed with people being on a stage behind some equipment. The band did some mellower numbers like "Golden Brown" which was controversial for the band's admission of heroin use. They also performed "Baroque Bordello" which made me think of Jean Jaques' French background and how he has brought this into the Stranglers work. In the interview he made reference to the Rites of Spring riots in Paris and he even explained a misinterpretation of "Peaches" with a French saying that I had him explain. It made me wonder if I should have asked more about his french influence on the band. It might have given me the opportunity to ask about "Goodbye Toulouse". My thoughts continued to go back to the interview earlier that day. In it JJ said they were;t a punk band which is a ludicrous statement to make. I should have challenged him on this. The first two records have all kinds of references that became iconic images to punk like Rattus Norvegicus, which is the taxonomical name for Rat. Rats became the adopted mascot of punk. The pogo beat is defined by that up and down bounce found in the rhythm of "I Feel like a Wog". Although the live set built a case for the band being more than a punk band with songs like "Walk on By" and "Always the Sun". They reminded me more of the style of punk that Ian Dury and the Blockheads played or even Shreikback.
The set included "Hangin' Around" and "Burning Up Time". They also got to do an encore which started out with "Bring on the Nubiles" and finished with "Nice 'n Sleazy" which made me think of the Battersea Park show story that JJ explained earlier where strippers took off their clothes as an expression of empowerment that was missed by the tabloids when they originally reported on it. It was a great show. Some friends of koine who have seen the band countless times said it was the best show they had ever seen by the Stranglers. Impressive to my ears given how much people talked about how musically proficient the band was and how they ripped through sets back in the day. If the Stranglers play a town near you go see it.
Broadcasting on CIUT 89.5FM since May 1999, ExD is dedicated to playing underground punk, hardcore, and garage from around the world. Tune in Sunday nights from 10pm to Midnight EST - live streaming audio available at www.ciut.fm Bands/labels: send us your stuff! We're looking for records and CDs to play on our show. Contact Equalizing-X-Distort by e-mail at equalizingxdistort@gmail.com.
