Unbelievers studio 3 session

I have spent the last few days doing all sorts of research on this little known band from here called Unbelievers. They have five recording, but the recent one that came out last year is the one I am most familiar with. Initially, Unbelievers were a band that reminded me of X-Ray Spex and Vice Squad. I ran into Keiran the bass player while looking for everybody before the session and he was telling me that not too long ago he was rehearsing with Vice Squad. Just a weird coincidence. Keiran has been playing for the Unbelievers for the past six months but even newer to the line up is Johnny, the drummer. This band is Jenn’s vision and she has worked with members of Screeching Weasel and the Queers on their first recording. She has even joined the Queers on stage for a version of “Punk Rock Girls?. In the interview we talked about bands like Josie Cotton, the Muffs, and the Ramones as inspirations. In studio 3 I was reminded of the singing style of the Bayonettes and Zoe’s love for the Avengers.

 

Daihbid James had interviewed Jenn Unbe on Moondog Ballroom before and it being a Tuesday night Daihbid was at the station when the band arrived. They got to play catch up while we got to setting up.

As the band warmed up and went through the set we started getting takes of the song that the band were not entirely happy with. The set featured songs from the latest release which included:

1. Real Slow Hand
2. I Don’t Like You
3. Hangover Song
4. Puppy Lovin’
5. Apathy
6. In the Crowd
7. Wedding Song
8. Wish I was that Girl
9. Cuz I’m a Creep

There was also some new unreleased material which included:

1. Sumo Tsunami
2. Wasted Youth
3. Home

After 34 takes we finally had everything recorded and we had run out of time. Then we made Jenn recorded some IDs for the station and the show. These are what we came up with…

1. Cuz I’m a Creep CIUT ID
2. Wedding Song CIUT ID
3. Wedding Song lyrics CIUT ID
4. 21 CIUT ID
5. Real Slow Hand EXD ID

 

Remarks about how hard Johnny hits those drums were going back and forth which is a common description, but the proof was in the pudding. After the session the interview studio was covered in drum stick pieces and shredded wood bits that looked like a wood chipper had been at work earlier.

This session was videotaped by Aldo from Punks ‘n Rockers. Here is a medley of a few songs from the session.

VCR studio 3 session

These studio 3 posts as of late have been pre-occupied with bad weather and tonight is no exception. A multi-waved snowstorm is to begin at midnight tonight, or so I keep hearing on the weather reports. At least it is not as cold as it has been. But I am still concerned about where I am meeting VCR. Fortunately two members played in Wrong Generation and have done a studio 3 session, so Matt and Scott know where the tower was on Tower Road (there are two). And I didn't recognize Scott with his hair so short. It was shoulder length the last time he was here. Still has the same baby face. As introductions are being done I learn that the keyboard player, Erica, just learned the songs over the last three days. The regular keyboard player goes to school in Montreal. That sounds like Julian from the Wastoids.

Having keyboards is unusual and we have only ever had a band with keyboards a few times with Tijuana Bibles and the Diodes and maybe Simply Saucer (although that might have just been a theremin). Anyway I wasn't sure what the sound was going to be like. I didn't need to worry because VCR rocked. And not just in some poor excuse for an adjective way. The band really pulled from garage rock inspirations citing some of Jay Reatard's projects as well as some bands from the current New York scene like Hand Wood and the Hammerheads or Coachwhips. I certainly heard a hi energy style of rock 'n roll that fuelled bands like the Mummies and New Bomb Turks. Scott was singing and playing guitar and really played up some of the drama. He is great at hyping a moment and helps you get right into their sound. There is neat interplay between him and Matt which is heard in the intro to "Scream". And he sounds like Doc Dart from the Crucifucks when he is singing.

The band also wore costumes. So the front line (Scott, MacKenzie, and Erica) sported bright red VCR shirts complete in the Blade Runner font. Scott had a bandana made out of police line tape. Mackenzie wore one of the brightest multi coloured dress I have ever seen. And Erica sported a mullet wig on top of her shoulder length hair. But Matt was the highlight nuzzled up into a yellow hazmat suit (can someone say Devo) and his hi hat was topped off with a rubber skull just waiting for a Shakespearean soliloquy.

The band played the following set of originals:

1. Pizza Party
2. Think Twice
3. One Trick Dog
4. BDSM
5. Fake Freaks Fuck Off
6. Dirty Girl / City Boy
7. Scream

VCR was also very good at doing IDs for the station and the show:

8. BDSM ID - The girls did a play on the Poly Styrene intro to "Oh Bondage".
9. Pizza Party ID - Matt does a British snooty accent with a dedication to D'Arcy.
10. Muzak ID - Matt played elavator music while Scott did his best New Yorker impersonation.

Wrong Generation had to play a show on Sunday so we did the interview after the session.

Aldo from Punks and Rockers caught the set on tape even though the lighting was a bit absent.



Speaking of tapes, VCR have a demo that you can download at their bandcamp page.

The Rezentments - Studio 3 session

It's beginning to feel like every Studio 3 session happens on a day of an extreme cold weather alert. It was bone shattering cold when I found the rest of the Rezentments in Jay's van. Jay is the drummer and has done a Studio 3 session with Spoiled Rotten. He didn't recognize the new location because he didn't realize we had to move from the house on St. George.

Ian Wilkinson, from Big Brother, was doing sound again and was waiting when we finally luged up the equipment. I should have taken a picture of Chris Crash's amp. It had an amazing leopard print which reminded me of the best punk dye job I envyed growing up. Maybe Chris did too. It was awesome looking.

 

I have never met Chris before, but his legend is large having played in many bands such as the Plague and Slander and the Hammer Boys and now Steel Town Spoilers. He also runs a punk store in Hamilton called Crash Landing. They have a facebook page if you are trying to track them down. Chris was good enough to talk with me when I was doing research on Slander and he has amazing stories so I was excited to meet him in person. I was not disappointed.

Jamie Problem had wet my appetite about his new band (The Rezentments) when he came in to be interviewed about Problem Children. And as he belted out songs I could hear some of the PC melodies and optimism in a shitty story. All lived experiences.

Chris had played in a band called the Hammer Boys with Ham'r Mark and they seem to be the core of the band. Mark brought in Mayhem Mark and you can hear the story as better told in this interview we did afterwards. The song "Anxiety" reminded me of "What we want is free" by Articles of Faith. The gang vocals remind me of Sham 69. There are metal flourishes throughout and the song "Dick" approached grind speeds. The band makes the case that they are a mixed bag of influences. The band is working on a studio recording, but here are some songs recorded at CIUT's studio 3.

1. Anxiety
2. Somedays
3. Friendly Fire
4. Hey Pig
5. Piece of Me
6. Photo Bomb
7. You Got Two
8. Crowd Control
9. Barton Street Hag
10. Yer What's Wrong
11. Dick
12. Try

The band also did some IDs for the show and the station based around their songs.

13. EXD ID
14. CIUT ID

And Aldo from Punks 'n Rockers video taped the session.

IDNS Studio 3 session

Matt joked about it being the coldest night of the year. It was pretty damn cold. Seems like a lot of Studio 3 sessions happen on bad weather days. To paraphrase DRI "I'd rather be recording". There was ice everywhere and trying to carry heavy amps over ice was a bit unnerving, but we did get all the equipnent upstairs. Sean, the singer was the only person I had not met before. Daren, the drummer, was in with Make No Gains not that long ago.  Matt had recorded with End Program at the St. George location and Preston did the same with Murdersquad T.O. So some of this was afamiliar and some of this was new. There was some nerves and there was some hearing issues, but as everyone thing was tweaking the session came together. 35 takes produced 11 songs. Ian Wilkinson did all tough work of sifting through all the takes. Here are the finals for you to hear or download:

1. Systematik
2. Without Warning
3. Destroyer of Worlds
4. Global Abuse
5. Eat. Shit. Die.
6. Consumption of Mass Quantities (C.M.Q.)
7. Mental Torpor
8. Unconscionable
9. Apotheosis of Carnage
10. Hierarchy of Power
11. Ad Nauseum

Please note that if you go to the archive.org page there are various formats for these songs.

I also asked Sean to do IDs for the station based on their songs so here they are:

12. CIUT ID
13. EXD ID

They stuck around to answer questions afterwards and you can hear the interview or check out the radio show where it is altogether.

Here is a video clip of the session filmed by Aldo from Punks `n Rockers:



To get in touch with IDNS you can reach them through their bandcamp site at http://idnscrust.bandcamp.com/. There is a contact section on the bottom right hand corner.

Dead Mouth studio 3 session

 

Dead Mouth are a band from Toronto that have been around since 2010. The band features members of some bands like Teethmarks and Black Faxes. They are pretty amazing and cover some of their influences like Agnostic Front, S.O.D., and Integrity. Although they take some of the heaviness from this scene they approach things with a critical mind which is refreshing to hear in a time of never ending whitewash. This is a session recorded by Ian Wilkinson in CIUT's studio 3. Here are the songs recorded:

1. Why Should I Care?!
2. Dead
3. Through Being Cool
4. Hipster Holocaust / Years and Years
5. Pull the Plug
6. PTS to SP
7. Losing Control
8. Everest
9. Iron Fist (Motorhead) - This took three takes and was done as a request because the band had just played a Motorhead set at the Punks is covers series
10. Victim in Pain (Agnostic Front)
11. Milano Mosh (S.O.D. from NYC)
12. Hipster Holocaust EXD ID
13. Losing Control CIUT ID
14. Losing Control CIUT ID dub

The band features Jesse Robinson on vocals, Martin Poulin on guitars, Dave Fenton on bass, and Joe Drebit on drums. They have two releases up on bandcamp which you can find at http://deadmouth667.bandcamp.com.

Punks 'n Rockers has captured a medley of songs from that session. They have a blog that you can go and see past sessions found at http://punksandrockers.com/blog/.

Smooth Brain studio 3 session

Smooth Brain are a new band from Cleveland with a more garage influence to their sound. The band has just released their second ep called “One of Them” so much of that was recorded in this session, but it was a year ago in August when their first ep came out which was called “Fleas”. Both eps can be downloaded from the band’s bandcamp (smoothbrain.bandcamp.com/‎) page.

This was the first out of town band to play in studio 3 since we have moved into the Tower Road studio and that has more to do with the limitations on the use of the studio. The old St. George house gave us the flexibility of 24 hour access. And this band warned me ahead of time that they were going to be running late which had me nervous the whole time. And with the construction going on Tower Road I paced back and forth trying to find the band for an hour. But finally they pulled in on Hoskins, I spotted the Ohio licence plate and knocked on the window to introduce myself. I hurried them along as we were already behind the gun on time. Fortunately, Jon Hawkes had set up mics and the space so we were ready to go.

The band knocked out a set of material which involved the following list of songs:

1. One of Them
2. Dum
3. The Freezer
4. Mean Chimp
5. Living Room Cop
6. When I’m With You
7. Pointing At Me / Freaker Party
8. Bone 2 Pick
9. Ramones cover
10. EXD ID
11. CIUT ID

During the set I noticed that the band reminded me a lot of the Vapids. Then I realized that they shared a bass player lead singer format, but this is more coincidental. Nathan is also the band’s principle artist, and by that I mean, he draws a lot of the band’s artwork. He has a Robert Crumb influenced style and is responsible for both ep covers. But you can check out his artwork at http://www.nwardcomics.com/. Nathan’s brother, Jim plays guitar with their friend Mike. And the drummer is Kev who informed me that he used to play guitar in 9 Shocks Terror. That floored me. 9 Shocks is a band I love. The fact that he is playing a different instrument in this band is equally puzzling.

This session was videotaped by Aldo from Punks and Rockers. Below is an edit of some of the songs mentioned above.

We spoke about the band afterwards in an interview.

Ancient Heads Studio 3 session

 

I first heard about Ancient Heads when Demolition were in to record a session. Singer, Nathan Simpson, came in for the session and did some covers with

Demolition. Afterwards he told me about this well kept secret that took their name from a Beyond song. I was stunned that someone knew who Beyond was. At the time the band featured Matt La Forge on guitar and Jason O'Young on drums. I knew Jason from sessions with the Kill Decibel and Urban Blight, but his reputation proceeds him and he is a great guy to boot. Jason had already recorded a demo tape for the band called "Demo 2012, Volume 1" which is a three song recording of some old school sounding straight edge. Since then Emmett Morris from Demolition was recruited to play bass. After much tooing and froing with schedules and a prevously cancelled session this recording finally came together. The band was practised and Nate had even worked out introductions for each song. That was a first. Jon Hawkes recorded the session and the songs recorded include:

 

1. Intro for Old Dogs

2. Old Dogs / Movng On
3. Intro for Another Way
4. Another Way
5. Intro for Outrage
6. Outrage
7. Intro / Waste of Life
8. Waste of Life
9. Intro for Identity Shift
10. Identity Shift
11. Intro for Take Control
12. Take Control
13. Intro for No time for you
14. No time for you / Fight Back
15. Intro for For My Brothers
16. For My Brothers
17. Hip Hop ID
18. One Take EXD ID
19. Another Way ID
20. Ancient Heads ID 4

Aldo from Punks and Rockers also captured the session in video format, which will be uploaded soon.

Anti-Vibes studio 3 session

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:

1. Laughter House
2. Souled Out
3. Growth Hormone
4. War, On Drugs
5. Sex Doll
6. Tele-Evangelist
7. Amateur Eye Surgery
8. Marky Mark
9. Agent Cooper
10. Slaughter Track
11. Fix Me (Black Flag)
12. CIUT ID
13. CIUT ID 2
14. CIUT ID 3
15. EXD ID

We are honoured to be the first to record Anti-Vibes and you can download the session at bandcamp.

There is also some video which was filmed and editted by Aldo of Punks and Rockers.

Absolut studio 3 session

ABSOLUT are a relatively new group from Toronto that are inspired by Swedish and Japanese hardcore. I guess the Swedish part goes without saying especially if you name your band after a brand of Swedish vodka. But the burning spirits part is not obvious until you hear the soaring guitar gnashing and the racing drum beat. ABSOLUT channels everything from G.I.S.M. to DISORDER to KREMLIN. The band has been an idea sine Saigon Distress Signal broke up. Chris carried on with some of the newly broken up band recording a demo back in 2008. Then the band lay dormant for a few years until KREMLIN came along. That’s when these guys started connecting and Chris and Vassil from the City Sweethearts got Rich from

ACTION and Joel from Rammer/Left for Dead to join ranks. The band plays a version of raw sounding D-Beat not often heard in this city. I was floored watching these guys race through their set. In fact the band’s equipment gave out before they did. Joel’s guitar cut out in the last take of “Fucking Pain” so we had to call it a day. And Vassil’s cymbal had a huge chunk taken out of it by the end of the set as well as playing through half the set with bloody knuckles. Their commitment to their sound is impressive. And they have something to say despite titles like “Neofuckers” which sounds more like a play on broken English. The song is actually about the development industry that has made Toronto an unaffordable city to live in and is part of the story of this city that is underplayed. Here is the interview in two parts.

Interview, part 1
Interview, part 2

Here is the set list that you can download as individual songs:

1. Lowest Denominator
2. Thieves in Law
3. No Single Tear
4. Dirty Grave
5. Life Sketch
6. Black Void
7. Neofuckers
8. No Card
9. Tiring Planet
10. Insane Power
11. Martyr Fuckoff
12. Your Fraud
13. Fucking Pain

14. EXD ID 1
15. EXD ID 2
16. EXD ID 3
17. CIUT ID

The band has recorded ten new songs, nine of which will appear on a 12” on a label out of Brooklyn to be called “Black Void”. You can download their six song demo at http://absolutnoise.bandcamp.com/. This session was recorded by Jonathon Hawkes. Aldo Erdic videotaped the session for Punks and Rockers. Here is a medly of some songs from Studio 3.

Purity Control studio 3 session

Purity Control are a hardcore band from Toronto that has been around in various incarnations since 2010. In their early incarnation they recorded two demos which are hard to find now. But over the last two years they solidified the line up with Payson being the original member. He is the singer. Brandon, who also plays in S.H.I.T. plays bass and he reminds me of Eric Wood from PHC, MITB, bastard Noise fame. He plays the bass like Woody in a very possessed sort of manner. Max, plays drums in Abyss and technically reminds me of someone as great as Dave Whyte from Discodrance Axis, East-West Blast Test fame. Derrick, the guitarist is one of the most dramatic elements of the band. Live he nevers faces the crowd but his guitar is constantly swinging wildly and you wouldn't want to be anywhere near him on a stage.

The band is most often described as a power violence band and most often to Infest, although I would have to say they remind me more of Crossed Out if I were to compare them to any of the original cannon of that classic west coast sound. The band grew up on newer school power violence bands like Charles Bronson and Max has a seemless tradition into blast beat paces that are awe stricking to watch and hear.

Payson writes interpretive lyrics born out of the Summer of Revolution and made into a genre through labels like Ebullition. His lyrics are inspired by real life and usually around omse sort of failure or disappointment so the experience is about anguish and pain.

The band members have a shared foundation and love for Left for Dead although that never comes out in the sound.

This line up has recorded two eps, one which came out on High Anxiety, and one that they self-released. The band recorded both eps in Studio 3 along with five new tracks. Also found below is an interview in three parts and some IDs for the show and the station. This session was recorded by Jonathon Hawkes. Here is what was recorded:

1. Remote Viewing
2. Taking Control
3. Holy Hell
4. Sympathy Pains
5. Walking Distance
6. Sex Life
7. Heart Sick

8. Bite Marks
9. Separation Anxiety
10. Light Pollution / Mock Suicide
11. Gag Order
12. Insect Politics
13. Swallowing
14. Brat Fucker
15. Body Horror
16. Stock Options
17. Bedroom Eyes
18. Dear Life
19. Second Sight
20. CIUT ID
21. EXD ID
22. Interview, part 1
23. Interview, part 2
24. Interview, part 3

Aldo Erdic of Punks and Rockers videotaped the session and put together an editted version of the session that you can see below.

Flyer - Friday, March 15th, 2013

The Valley Boys studio 3 session

Matt Hitch was just on the show, guest hosting. Matt sings and plays guitar in the Valley Boys. This is his band. He is the only constant that has followed this band through their earlier incarnations. You may also know Matt as the original bassist in the School Jerks. He has pulled together a solid line up of stand up musicians in the punk scene which include Jon Sharron of Hassler and Jimmy Vapid of the Vapids. Kalle Malloy is a long time friend of Jon and this was the first time I have seen him in a band, but he is a good drummer and a good guy.

It was a bit of a catch up session with each other as we swapped releases and talked recordings and releases and other things that music nerds wrap themselves up into. It took a while to get the session started but we were able to record 13 songs which included a cover of the pre Poison Idea band Imperialist Pigs and a punker versions of a Modern Lovers song. The subject of the songs look at a variety of issues which demonstrate causes for concern and make for great punk songs. In addition the band wrote a couple of IDs for the station and the show in the studio. We also recorded an interview after the session. The session was recorded and mastered by Jon Hawkes and the songs are:

1. Drone Attack
2. Shooting Politicians
3. Side Effects
4. Copsucker Blues
5. Rich Kids
6. Modern World (Modern Lovers)
7. Auto Pilot
8. Feeding Time
9. Feel Like Shit
10. Cherub Face (Imperialist Pigs)
11. Pills
12. Fired
13. Eyes of Fire
14. CIUT ID
15. EXD ID

This session was also caught on video tape by Aldo Erdic for Punks and Rockers. Here are a few of the songs above made into a medley...

Abyss studio 3 session

It was a cold night and the band was waiting for me in the parking strip that is known as 89.5 Tower Road. I know Rob because we were roomates and I know Dave from Rammer and Column of Heaven. But Ethan, Junior, and Max were new. I had seen Max play with Purity Control at the recent Not Dead Yet and they were incredible. Ethan had made a joke with his band and the song "Purity Negation" below. Anyway, tonight was the realization of trying to get Abyss to CIUT since I had first seen them in their opening slot for Bastard Noise two years ago. The band has recorded two cassettes worth of material since then and is working on a full length. This was a good chance to catch them becuase the conceptual ideas of working themselves out. Some of these song titles are working titles but here is a sneak peak at their next release.....

1. Die Burning
2. Napalm Death
3. Purity Negation
4. Sickening Prophecies
5. When death mates with life
6. Blood Urges
7. Flesh Cult
8. Heretical Anatomy
9. Rotting from Without
10. EXD ID
11. CIUT ID
12. CIUT + EXD ID
13. CIUT ID



This session was also documented by video thanks to Aldo Erdic of Punks and Rockers. Below is a medley put together of some of the above mentioned songs....

The Groggies studio 3 session

I rode down to the studio. It was a cold night.

As I get to Tower Road I notice a truck with some gear in it. That must be the Groggies truck. I see the Shular brothers putting some money in a parking meter and I warn them not to. This is something I would regret in only a few minutes. We took some gear upstairs and picked up a trolley so we can wheel up the bigger gear. As we come back downstairs there is a campus police ticketing their car. Eric tried to reason with the guy but he had his standard set of answers which just infuriated all of us even more. This university is nothing but a business. It astounds me with how greedy they are for revenue. This university has a poor way of treating out of town guests.

1. By the Black

2. Controlling Interest
3. Retort
4. Into Hell
5. Be Young,Have Fun, Bend Over (Phallocracy)
6. Mechanic
7. Handfulof Nails
8. Excuse
9. Pull theTrigger
10. Loser
11. Nameless
12. Whereare we now
13. CIUT ID
14. EXD ID

Glenn’s beard has been trimmed since I last saw him at the Sons of Ishmael reunion. It still has a ZZ Top quality to it but not as bad as Tim Freeborn or Brian Taylor.  Glenn used to play bass in BSL back in the late 80's and in Phallocracy in the 90's.

Ian used to sing in a band called the Abrasers. Ian stands very straight and looks disinterested but when prompted has a lot of well thought through opinions. He doesn’t show much by way of emotion. His voice is very throaty and reminds me of early BLITZ. This is odd because when I listened to recorded material his vocals reminded me of the CIRCLE JERKS. Then they played a song called “Loser” and there is a spoken word part that reminded me of Mike Muir when he sings “Institutionalized”.

Keith was wearing a sweet Iron Maiden shirt. Eric is his brother and plays drums that start “Controlling Interest” sound like rapid machine gun fire.

This session was recorded and mastered by Jon Hawkes. Aldo Edric videotaped the band for Punks and Rockers. Here is a clip.