The Unusuals - 44U EP (1980) + bonus live track

There's a lot to like about this 45, including the cover art (hello, 80's!) and the first track on here, "You Only Make it With Rich Guys," which is power pop gold. To add to the package, we've included, courtesy of Ian Grant, who drummed in a later incarnation of The Unusuals, a recording of the band tackling "Shakin' All Over" (Johnny Kidd & the Pirates) at Dinnie's Den in the University of Calgary, sometime in the early '80s--thanks heaps, Ian!

Plus, via the youtubes, we have some great video of the band (with Grant also on the drums):



Grab this great 45 and bonus track here, and then click through to this youtube user's stream for more Unusuals video goodness.

The Presence - "Blown Away" b/w "Mechanoid" (1982)

Here's a second 7" from the Presence. Same dudes as before, but this one feels a little more schizophrenic than our last post. The A-side is straight-forward rock, but the B-side kind of sounds like they guys had been listening to a lot of Devo and the Normal. And maybe watching old episodes of Doctor Who? Which isn't a bad thing, we gotta tell you.

Get blown away here.

The Presence - Meeting the Demands of Society is No Excuse (1981)

Continuing on our quest for early 80's vinyl, we've got this 7" that was packaged in a 7.5" x 10.5" envelope. We don't know much about this band, but we're going to go out on a limb and suggest that this was the next step for a bunch of folks from Random Scrapings, and it looks like they co-existed with another band a few of these guys were in at the time, the R & B Keepers. If anyone out there can fill in the blanks for us, we'd appreciate it.

White Side
Concrete/Metal
Struck by a Disquieting Muse
Disease

Black Side
Seduced by the System
Getting Twisted

Make your own excuses here.

Plan Nine - "I Ain't No Robot" b/w "Fatal Femme" (1980)

You know that post yesterday, where we didn't think we had much to say, and we ended up having just a little bit to say? Today's post is like that one, except without the little bit to say.

This again comes to us via Girls From Tahiti, this time from their Obscure Canada Vol. 2 collection. And we don't know anything about anything here. Which isn't that unusual for us, really.

But here are the tracks anyways!

The Cutz - "Space In Time" b/w "Nuclear Hall of Fame" (1980)

We weren't expecting to be able to tell you much about this 45, other than it has been pegged as the first punk/independent release to come out of Calgary. We managed to find these songs via Girls From Tahiti's Obscure Canada Vol. 1 collection.

But our friend Google has pointed us to a Beatroute article on singer-songwriter/current Ex-Boyfriends drummer Lonnie James, which indicates that James was the drummer for the Cutz. Which doesn't give us more info about this band, but it does give us one more tag for this post.

Get these early Cutz here.

The Hot Nasties - The Invasion of the Tribbles EP (1980)

By this point, you may be tired of our references to last year's FFWD article on the formation of the city's punk scene. We know you probably read the article when it came out, and you probably came away thinking, "wow! Warren Kinsella started the punk scene in Calgary!" We recommend you read the many comments at the bottom of the link above, in which several Persons Who Were There set the record straight. 

We're also going to point you towards the biography at the Museum of Canadian Music, which tells the story from the start - but, we note, this is likely the story as told by Kinsella, so please read it with that in mind. Prior to the Hot Nasties, Kinsella and Pierre Schenk played with future Sturgeon Alan MacDonald as Social Blemishes. At some point, MacDonald left the band (we at the CCPS have our likely suspicions as to why this may have happened) and the Social Blemishes became the Nasties.

This 45 isn't the first punk record to come out of this city. It's also (clearly) not the best. That said, the b-side on this is the main reason to hear this record. "The Secret of Immortality" is a great tune - but you can always skip the Nasties' version and skip to the quite excellent cover by one of our favourites, the Ex-Boyfriends (Djewel's voice makes this song work, way better than Warren's). It's also the one tune on here that 

We were told a story about the recording of this, but we forget important parts of it, which only ends up reflecting poorly on us, so we're not going to recount it. The story itself reflected poorly upon Warren Kinsella, 'natch. 

We're spending a lot of time talking about this 45, mostly to demystify it. We're not posting a link to this, as (a) Kinsella has repackaged the single for mass consumption via his website and (b) Kinsella is Kinsella. And (c), it looks like there's a re-issue of this forthcoming from Ugly Pop Records.

Silicone Injection - Sic Nos Non Nobis (1981)

We've never actually laid eyes on this vinyl; these tracks were ripped from the second volume of the Smash the State compilation, which we found at Model Citizen...Zero Discipline. The compilations are based on Frank Manley's great Canadian punk discography of the same name, which has proved an indispensable Golden Rock resource (and one that we at the CCPS still need to pick up, apparently).

The Museum of Canadian Music has only slightly more info on this than we do, and tells us that the band's membership was:

G. Lamb: bass, vocals
F. Monaghan: drums
G. Thompson: guitar, vocals

Get yr daily injection here.

The Verdix - "Lookin' Around" b/w "Media" (1981)

We're going to dig into some early punk vinyl for a bit. Golden Rock asserts that this 45 is one of Calgary's first indie releases, and . The Verdix were the brainchild of the late singer-guitarist Mick Joy (a.k.a. Mick Memorex, who also played in early incarnations of Golden Calgarians). 

Here's an additional snippet from FFWD's piece on the genesis of our city's punk scene:

“The Verdix were different from the Calgary bands that had gone before, which tended to be pretty young, like 17-, 18-year-olds,” says Allen Baekeland, the former station manager of CJSW. “They were a little bit older and they could play. So immediately the scene sort of coalesced around them.” Their only single, “Media,” backed with “Lookin’ Around,” showcases a band that absolutely held their own against the lean aggression of the Sturgeons and the melodic skill of the Nasties, and while a palpable, friendly tension still exists between the two camps (the Verdix were “suspicious”; the Nasties were “nerdy”), all three bands co-existed and flourished at the Calgarian.

This one comes courtesy of Radio Radio co-founder Dennis Burton, who is also working on a two-disc collection of live Verdix tracks. Dennis is doing amazing CalgCon restoration work--like the double-disc RipChords retrospective GoneForeverGone. Thanks tonnes, Dennis!

As a special bonus, we found this video on the youtubes. It looks like there's more Verdix recordings out there somewhere...

Get this crucial slice of early punk here. 

Sacred Heart of Elvis: live + studio (circa 1985-87)

When it rains Sacred Heart of Elvis, it pours! Rodney (Bartok Guitarsplat) Brent sent in a bunch of recordings from various incarnations of his old band:

“Elvis on Velvet” (studio recording, September 1985)

“Black Snake Moan” (studio recording, November 1986)

“Ed Anger” (studio recording, January 1987)

“Walkin’ the Neurotic” (studio demo of “Walkin’ the Floor” and “Every Neurotic Citizen”)
Ali Riley: vocals
Tim Campbell: guitar
Bartok Guitarsplat: guitar
Rob and Dwight from The Mules (“although they called themselves different names”): bass and drums

“Misery/Ed Anger” & “Wheezing Dog on Leash/Ring of Fire” (recorded live at the National Hotel circa January 1987)
Ali Riley: vocals
Tim Campbell: guitar
Bartok Guitarsplat: guitar
Joni Brent: bass
Michael Nathenson: drums

“Black Snake Moan” (alternate studio recording)
Ali Riley: vocals
Tim Campbell: guitar
Bartok Guitarsplat: harmonica, acoustic guitar
Grant Sim: bass
Ted Clark: drums.

Rodney also sent two songs from Rooth the Fruitbats (or is it Rooth and the Fruitbats?), a proto version of Sacred Heart of Elvis, recorded at the National Hotel:

“Don’t Ya Wish Ya Stayed Home Now”

“A Most Odious Person”

Thanks tons, Rodney!

Holy!

Sacred Heart of Elvis: Live

Andrew Pearce (of The Now Feeling fame) found an old cassette recording of a Sacred Heart of Elvis gig. "I am pretty sure I wasn't playing drums on this recording," says Andrew. "I believe Ali gave it to me so that I could learn the songs for a few gigs I played with them in Toronto. I think this was a recording in Toronto and maybe Rodney Brent played on it, but I'm at a loss for who ever else."

Thanks a million for sending this in, Andrew!

We'll see if Rodney or someone can't shed some light on this mystery.

Songs:
Misery
Batman
Wheezing Dog on Leash
Into the Frey
City of God
Wrong Cocktail
Black Snake Moan
Elvis on Velvet
Every Neurotic Citizen
Lolita's Revenge
Walking the Floor
Alligator Death Wine

This recording is a bit rough, but absolutely worth the listen.