The Nils

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.

Carbon/Silicon: Mick Jones Rides Again

London SS - Mick Jones and Tony James (right)

The Clash, Generation X, The Damned, Chelsea, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and the Rich Kids. If you play six degrees of separation with all of these bands they all have one common denominator: London SS. Founded by Mick Jones (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite) and Tony James (Generation X, Sigue Sigue Sputnik), London SS never really was a band but more a Punk version of American Idol. With Jones and James playing the part of Simon and Randy, they conducted audition after audition looking for more musicians to round out their vision of what London SS would be; some would make the cut and move on, others would not and drop into obscurity. After 10 months and having already rejected the likes of Paul Simonon (Clash bassist), Tony Chimes (Clash drummer), Topper Headon (Clash drummer after Chimes), Steve New (Rich Kids guitarist) and Rat Scabies (Damned drummer), Jones and James decided to call it quits. James first moved on to play bass with Chelsea which splintered into Generation X. When Billy Idol left Generation X, James started up Sigue Sigue Sputnik (right). Jones, famously, would join up with Chimes, Simonon, Keith Levene and Joe Strummer to form the Clash.

The Clash

Throughout the years, bands and projects the two would participate in, Jones and James remained close friends. Sometime in 2002 the two started making regular trips to a recording studio together in West London. By Spring of 2003 the pair, under the name Carbon/Silicon (http://www.carbonsiliconinc.com/default.aspx ), began to release the results of their collaboration free of charge as downloads on their website. By 2007 the pair (at right) had released a total of 7 downloadable EP and full length albums for free. In November they released “The Last Post”, their first “official” CD and began to play gigs in the U.S. this month to promote it. They will tour Britain next year. The sampled, electronic sound Jones broke ground with in B.A.D. is still present, but Carbon/Silicon is much more a garage-based band than B.A.D . One area that still remains from The Clash days is the overtly political theme to much of the lyrics and themes. Song titles like “Why Do Men Fight”, “The Whole Truth” and “National Anthem” would fit nicely on the back of any Clash album.

For more, check out these links:

London SS - http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/london_ss.htm

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - http://www.sputnikworld.com/

Generation X - http://www.billyidol.com/v1/genx.html

The Clash - http://www.theclashonline.com/

Big Audio Dynamite - http://www.esmark.net/bad/bad.htm

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Radio, Radio

In telecom-speak, the capture effect describes how a radio determines, when given two different signals on the same frequency, which signal it will broadcast. When presented with multiple signals, FM receivers will only broadcast the strongest signal. The capture effect can also be used to describe the current state of “terrestrial” radio. When given the option of turning on your radio today, most people choose to talk on their cell phone, play a cd or listen to the ranting of some right-(or left) wing talk show host on AM radio while making their daily commute or driving to the store. The options for diverse radio programming have not been this bleak since Marconi sent himself the first radio transmission in 1895. The state of today’s terrestrial radio is in sad shape. Why else are millions of people signing up and paying for the subscription services offered by such companies as XM or SIRIUS? I, for one, will never pay for radio. I already pay for bottled water, toll roads and 100 channels of cable TV (of which I may watch 6 channels during any given month). Radio, like this shit, is supposed to be free. Scan the dial the next time you get in your car. Wait, I’ll save you the agony, because all you will find are 4 hip-hop stations, 3 Spanish language stations, 2 oldies top 40 channels and a partridge in a pear tree. Eventually, internet radio will get its act together and then your radio options will be limitless, and hopefully still free.

When scanning the airwaves for 70’s and 80’s punk or new wave, the real estate effect is invoked: location, location, location. If you are lucky enough to live in an area with either a college station or a community supported station you have a chance to hear much more diverse programming and have a shot at someone still rolling out the punk and new wave music from an era when it, to, was largely ignored by ad-based radio. Let’s look at a few of the better radio programs that are still exposing the masses to some real variety, most 30 years after it was recorded:

Lest We Forget – Sundays from 9pm to midnite EST
90.9 FM WVVS-FM (www.valdosta.edu/wvvs)
Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA

One of the longer running programs dedicated to punk and new wave, Lest We Forget (http://www.myspace.com/skipv91) will still occasionally throw in some newer music that is also ignored on ad based radio. Show founder and host Skip will enlighten the Fishbone, Iggy and XTC crowd with the occasional song from Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers (right) and She Wants Revenge. Skip hosted shows on the station while attending VS in the 80’s, then left and now is back working for the university. Lest We Forget also updates it’s listeners on newer releases from some of the 70’s and 80’s stalwarts such as New York Dolls and Patti Smith. Unfortunately the broadcast area is small (approximately 25 miles) and the station does not stream over the internet or maintain pod casts. The next time you’re rolling through Valdosta, GA check it out.

Patti Smith

80’s Underground – Wednesday from 9am to 11am PST
103.3 FM KSCU ( http://www.kscu.org/ )
University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, CA

A college station dj’ed by mostly non-students, KSCU has been around as a radio station in one form or another for over 50 years. Jeff Shelton brings an eclectic mix of 70’s and 80’s new wave and punk to the South Bay airwaves every Wednesday from 9 am till 11. 80’s Underground ( http://www.myspace.com/80sunderground ) specializes in reviving the lost gems and forgotten acts from the era (Screaming Meemee’s, The Neats, The Nils - left) while still maintaining a link to the bands that ruled college radio back in the day (X, Guadalcanal Diary, The Replacements). KSCU has a broadcast area of 30 miles and is available on the internet. Jeff maintains a pod cast of all his shows at ( http://www.midwestusergroup.org/KSCU_Podcasts.htm ).
And if you want to hear some great new music with one foot planted firmly in the new wave era check out Jeff’s side project, The Well Wishers ( http://www.myspace.com/thewellwishers ).

Guadalcanal Diary

The Modern World – Friday from 6am to 8am CST
89.9 FM WEVL ( http://wevl.org/ )
Listener Supported, Memphis, TN

Running continuously since 2000, The Modern World is straight ahead Punk and New Wave and rarely strays beyond 1990. For every song you hear that you recognize, you’ll hear two you don’t…and you’ll be better for it. The former host maintained an excellent site that documented every song played from every show (http://www.dtradio.com/) and is still a great place to go if you’re trying to remember the name of that Vitamin Z song that you liked (it was Burning Flame, by the way). The current host Scott maintains playlists of all his shows (http://www.myspace.com/letthedaybeginonwevl ) as well. The station is listener supported and has a broadcast range of 60 miles around the Memphis area. The station streams on the internet but does not maintain pod casts. Get up early on Friday-it’s worth it.