Like any of the "great-band-that-went-no-where" stories of the 70's and 80's punk scene, the story of Montreal's the Nils, unfortunately, may sound familiar. What ultimately separates the band's story from so many other countless groups that folded under poor management, bad record deals, drugs or a combination of all the above, is, of course, the music. Ragged, raw and loose, the Nils had a sound that, while easy to compare, was all their own.
At the age of 16 Carlos Soria, inspired by the music of The Clash and the Sex Pistols, picked up the bass and eventually started playing in various punk bands in and around Montreal in the mid 1970's. Younger brother Alex becomes interested and, after the purchase of an $80 guitar, immediately finds he has music ability inside him that he never realized. From the start, Carlos realizes that writing and playing music was what his younger brother was meant to do. The pair would spend hours together playing songs and writing lyrics in the room they shared. By 1979 Alex, now 13 years old, and the first version of The Nils play gigs around Montreal. Within a few years, on the strength of a self-released cassette entitled "Now", a local
label BYO Records adds their song "Scratches and Needles" to a compilation entitled "Something to Believe In", which featured bands from around the Montreal music scene. While the remaining members of The Nils were ready to abandon the group, Carlos, seeing the strong reaction their song had, kept the group together and joined them on bass.
After recording the song "Call of the Wild" for another locally produced compilation in 1984, the Soria brothers become friends with Ivan Doroschuk. Doroschuk was in the the band Men Without Hats, who were a year or so away from scoring their hit "Safety Dance". Backed by a $3500 loan they received, only after Doroschuk co-signed, the Nils headed into the studio and recorded "Sell Out So Young" in 1985, with Doroschuk producing. Even Doroschuk would admit years later that the Nils were a hard sell. Most labels at the time were looking for music that would sell, no one was willing to take a chance on anyone with a sound like the Nils. But the "Sell Out So Young" EP changed that.
Following up quickly, the group recorded another EP "Paisley" in 1986. On the strength of the two EP's, The Rock Hotel imprint signed the band to a recording deal and their first full length self titled album was released in 1987. The record became an immediate favorite of record reviewers and the press, unfortunately all the people who don't have to buy the record. Despite touring behind the release and appearing on Rolling Stone magazine's college chart (the first Canadian band to do so), a lack of proper management and personal problems within the band sent it into free fall.
Within a year, the Rock Hotel label would go under and while the parent company, Profile, wanted to keep the band on contract the former head of Rock Hotel refused to release them. Forced back into menial day jobs, Alex becomes deeply depressed. Carlos, with no prospects and a offer to play with the band M.I.A., heads to California.
Much of the early 90's were marked with numerous false starts to try and revive the band or start others, as well as both Carlos and Alex's use of drugs, especially heroin (it always leads to this, doesn't it?). The drug would exit and re-enter Alex's life several times over the next decade. Alex would form the band Chino in 1998. In 2000 the group released "Mala Leche", an EP which again met with critical success but poor sales.
Then, in 2004, with another drug relapse in the making and despite plans to enter a treatment facility, Alex Soria took his own life. He was 38.
Mag Wheel Records released an excellent retrospective of the bands work in 1996. "Green Fields in Daylight" compiles the groups work that had been previously released as well as several live recordings and other previously unreleased material.
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The Best of the Rest: Other bands from Canada
Payola$ - Song "Eyes of a Stranger" from the Valley Girl soundtrack a hit in 1982.
Martha and the Muffins - Scored an international hit in 1980 with "Echo Beach"
Skinny Puppy - Industrial punks from Vancouver.
Men Without Hats - "Safety Dance", nuff said.
D.O.A. - Hardcore punk band from Vancouver, one of the founding members of the hardcore movement in the early 80's.
