Sex Pistols: The Week That Was

31 years ago this week.
March 9, 1977: The Sex Pistols sign with A&M Records. Having played their first official gig just 18 months ago and already terminated from one recording contract with EMI, Malcolm McLaren negotiates a deal with A&M. The EMI deal lasted only 3 months and goes south after a number of public incidents, including the groups famous first television appearance when they curse host Bill Grundy (pictured below) on live TV and cause a drunken disturbance prior to boarding a plane to Amsterdam.
March 10, 1977: To generate press, A&M schedules a press conference in front of Buckingham Palace, announcing the deal. This would be the first public appearance of new bass player Sid Vicious. A reception at a nearby hotel follows where the band members fill up on the free bar and begin insulting the journalists in attendance. The "party" spills out to a nearby recording studio where a fight ensues. Sid Vicious somehow cuts his foot and Paul Cook leaves with a black eye. A&M, for some reason, has the band come to A&M Headquarters for a meeting to discuss the b-side for the labels inaugural single God Save The Queen. McLaren's plan is to have the single released to correspond with the Queen's Silver Jubilee, marking the 25th anniversary of her accession to the throne. Vicious and Steve Jones proceed to destroy the offices and terrorize staff members. The meeting is adjourned.

March 11, 1977: Johnny Rotten appears before the court and is fined £40 for a previous charge on possession of amphetamines.


March 12, 1977: Vicious and cohort Jah Wabble (future bass player for Public Image Ltd.) terrorize BBC Radio 1 and Old Grey Whistle Test host Bob Harris (at right) at a local club. Pressure on A&M begins immediately to drop the Pistols due to their anti-social behavior.

March 16, 1977: Bowing to the pressure, as well as realizing they were never going to control the band, A&M terminates their contract with the Sex Pistols. A settlement is reached, paying the band £75,000 for their trouble. All copies of God Save The Queen are destroyed. The bands goal of having the song released for the queen's jubilee is in doubt.


The Sex Pistols would go on to find another record label willing to deal with them, signing to Virgin Records several months later. Vicious could not attend the much more toned down news conference announcing the deal, he was in the hospital with hepatitis caught from his now burgeoning heroin habit. He would be dead within two years. McLaren (at left, with Vivienne Westwood) and the group did see God Save The Queen released in time for jubilee. A scathing incitement on the Royal Family and the Queen herself, the band attempted to interrupt the celebration at the height of the festivities on June 7th by playing the song from a boat on the River Thames. After a brief scuffle with police they were arrested before they could ever get the boat launched. Despite radio stations being under strict orders not to play the song, enough copies were sold during the week to send it to #2 on the UK charts (the Pistols contended more than enough records were sold but that political pressure kept it from being #1).

Recycled Sounds

If your looking to restock that iPod, check out some new and recycled sounds that I came across that were just released or made available.


One of the UK's longest running punk bands (formed on December 5, 1976), 999 released, by my count, their 14th studio LP late last year, Death in Soho. But for my money, 999 is first and foremost a live band and can only be truly appreciated outside the studio. Among the numerous live albums the band has issued over the years, emusic (http://www.emusic.com/) just made available their 1987 live LP Lust, Power and Money. The recording has very good sound quality (unlike Live In LA: 1991 or Live at the Nashville 1979 which both sounded like the microphones were hidden in a shirt pocket). Their 1980 release The Best Tour in Sport (which is very hard to find and cost me $20 on the internet) still ranks as their best live LP but you can't go wrong with Lust, Power and Money , and the price is right.


Australia's The Hitmen have reissued both their 1981 debut LP The Hitmen and the 1982 follow-up It Is What It Is . Both reissues are 2 CD sets, coupling the original LP material with numerous studio demo's and assorted live recordings for an amazing 47 and 45 tracks in all, respectively. If you have to choose, I suggest going with their 1981 debut. It includes several great live tracks as well as their "hit" I Don't Mind.


Bahaus released a new studio album for the first time in 25 years this week with Go Away White. Recorded in late 2005 after their second round of live shows in the past 10 years (they first reunited for a tour with Nine Inch Nails in 1998), Go Away White is being reported as the last music the original members will be making together. No tour is planned in support of the release. Peter Murphy is in full Bowie mode on several of the songs and, for me, like most of the original 3 albums the band put out in the early 80's, I found 4 songs I really liked and will have to wait to see if the rest grows on me. If you're just looking to download a song or two I would recommend Too Much 21st Century and Int'l Bullet Proof Talent or Adrenalin.

emusic has also added Dramarama's first two full length LP's, 1985's Cineme Verite and 1987's Box Office Bomb. Forever to be known for their huge hit Anything, Anything (still the most requested song of all time on pioneering LA radio station KROQ), both of the bands LP's are worth adding. Along with the original material, these reissues include extra studio tracks and several live recordings. Box Office Bomb features an early studio demo of the their 1989 hit Last Cigarette.

Gary Numan

Gary Numan is among the most under appreciated acts to emerge from the late 70's, early 80's punk and new-wave scene. When you hear the name Gary Numan, you probably think "one hit wonder" for his chart topping song and current day advertising staple Cars, which went number one in both the UK and America in 1979 and 1980. Don't get me wrong, I'm as sick of that song as anyone on the planet. But while Cars may define Numan in many eyes, he in fact had many other successful singles and albums throughout the early 80's. His use of the synthesizer inspired legions of artists after him and popularized the instrument as much as anyone. I'll focus on his early work, primarily on the Beggars Banquet label, as it stands as Numan's definitive work and some of the best of the generation.

Numan had several false starts in punk bands in the late 70's until he teamed up with bassist Paul Gardiner in 1978 and formed Tubeway Army. On the strength of several demos the duo was signed to the Beggars Banquet label in 1978. The groups first album, Tubeway Army, didn't generate much interest and Numan sought to take the band a different direction, wanting to distance himself from the perceived negativism and corrosive nature of punk. A synthesizer, abandoned in a studio where the duo were recording, served as the catalyst Numan needed. Using the synthesizer has his base, Numan began to dissect the short stories he had written in honor of his favorite author, science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, to create a new musical style that would come define him.

The album announcing the "new" Tubeway Army would be Replicas, released in 1979. The first single, Down in the Park, was heavy on imagery of some future world, where robots patrolled the earth and humans were both friend and foe. On the strength of that single the follow-up, Are Friends Electric?, went number one on the UK singles chart and, following several television appearances, the album also climbed to number one on the UK album charts.

On the heels of Replicas, and now recording as Gary Numan & Tubeway Army, came the album The Pleasure Principle and the aforementioned smash single Cars, released in late 1979. On the success of Cars, Numan headed out on his first headlining tour, traveling throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and finally landing on US soil at the beginning of 1980. With huge neon light banks, electronic toys and lots of smoke, Numan's stage shows were unlike anything seen by the average concertgoer in 1980. Numan was also a master marketer, taking advantage of his popularity with well organized merchandising efforts via his Tubeway Army fan club. He was one of the first artists to embrace video and made both concerts and individual song video collections available on VHS.

The following year the album Telekon was released and it too went number one on the strength of singles This Wreckage, We Are Glass and I Die: You Die. Also during this time Numan, now financially secure, was able to pursue his life long dream of flight, obtaining his private pilot's license. His love of flying coupled with the success he had achieved to date led Numan to announce his retirement from any future touring in 1981. While Beggars Banquet was cashing in by releasing several live LP's, Numan placed his focus on flying, including a much publicized trip around the world. During his global journey he would be arrested in India and charged with spying, a charge for which he was later acquitted.

By the end of 1981 Numan released the album Dance, which quickly went to the top 5 of the UK charts and just as quickly dropped out of site. The fickle fate of fame had turned, many of Numan's fans were on to other bands. The decision to retire from touring was immediately reversed, as Numan headed to the US playing shows in support of the record. Dance also started a trend by Numan, where he would assume a different persona and focus the sound of the record on some particular style. Dance was a stark, experimental sounding album with a jazz vibe, 1982's I, Assassin had more of a funk flavor, ala Prince, and on 1983's Warriors he would add female backing vocals and assume a Mad-Max type look. Warriors would be his last record for Beggars Banquet. The public never took hold of any of this and the "experimental trilogy", as Numan would refer to the works, signaled the start of Numan's declining popularity.

Gary Numan would continue to release music on and off throughout the remainder of the 80's but his popularity never grew beyond the ever diminishing faithful from his early days. Most all of his work in the 1990's and early 2000 were all dismissible. Numan, as so many did, decided to follow rather than lead, playing a style of music that fit the flavor of the day rather than establishing his own mark. Having been a huge Numan fan in the early 80's and never having the opportunity to see him live I jumped at the chance to see him in 2000 when he as touring in support of Pure. Pure was attempting to capitalize on the funk-hip-hop-metal popularity of the day, which was making multi-millionaires out of bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Incubus. I figured it was worth enduring this new garbage for a chance to hear at least a few of my old favorites. So, off to the House of Blues on LA's famed Sunset Strip I went with high expectations, along with 75 or 80 like minded folk, to hear at least a Down in the Park or Are Friends Electric? along with the obligatory Cars. After one and half hours of the loudest, most indistinguishable music I had ever heard I wandered out of the HOB in a daze. Not only had he not played any of the old stuff, he didn't even play Cars. It was awful, Numan didn't say two words during the entire show, choosing to charge around stage, dressed all in black, all the while looking and sounding like some weak Nine Inch Nails cover band. I was pissed. My frustration would reach a new level as I passed the blinking sign I had obviously missed in my hast to get to the show "No Parking - Tow Away Zone". The cabbies lined up along the other side of the street (they'd done this before) gathered me and the other idiots that also failed to see the sign and whisked us off to parts unknown, to pay our $150 tow bill and retrieve our vehicles. Not only did I not get to hear even Cars, I had no car to show for it.

But I still love Gary Numan.

What's in a name?

Name: [neym] 1. a word or a combination of words by which a person, place, or thing, is designated, called, or known.


Wall of Voodoo (above) - Shortly after Stan Ridgway and Marc Moreland got together and started recording the first music that would become Wall of Voodoo, Ridgway jokingly compared the recordings to the Phil Spector-era "Wall of Sound". A friend commented it sounded more like "Wall of Voodoo" and the name stuck.

Spandau Ballet - Term referred to the spasms of the Nazi war criminals as they "danced at the end of the rope", when they were hanged at Spandau Prison.

fIREHOSE - Taken from a line in a Bob Dylan song, Subterranean Homesick Blues "Better stay away from those that carry around a fire hose".


The Cramps (right)- Liked the name because it is a violent, painful affliction that can be hard to get rid of.

Velvet Underground - Named after a book Lou Reed found in an apartment he had moved into. The book discusses the unusual sexual practices between consenting adults in the early 60's.


Sonic Youth (above)- Named in honor of two of the bands influences, Fred "Sonic" Smith of the MC5 and reggae band Big Youth.

Mekons - They took the band's name from the Mekon, an evil, super-intelligent Venusian featured in the British 1950s-1960s comic Dan Dare.

New York Dolls - Several stories have been used by various band members to recall where they came up with the name. Most common was based on a store that repaired dolls close to where Syl Sylvain lived and the band rehearsed.

Joy Division- The band started out as Warsaw, but there was already another group calling itself Warsaw Pakt, so the band renamed themselves Joy Division, borrowing the name of the prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp.

Devo - Short for "Devolution", which is what the band saw happening to the world in the 70's.

Husker Du - Which means "do you remember" in Swedish, also a popular board game in the 50's.


Thin White Rope (above)- Comes from William S. Burroughs' description of human semen.

The Misfits - Named after Marilyn Monroe's final movie.

Operation Ivy - Named after a series of nuclear tests conducted in 1952.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - One of the band members saw an ad on a cereal box offering a free Jesus and Mary chain.

The Pogues (at left) - Shortened from "Pogue Mahone", which in Gaelic (pog ma hon) means kiss my ass.



The Replacements (below)- Most common story is the band, still not set on a name, was called in to play for another band that failed to show and when asked, Paul Westerberg responded "we're the replacements".

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A new documentary is set to be released at the beginning of March chronically the life and times of Jeffery Lee Pierce, leader of the 80's punk blues group Gun Club. "Ghost on the Highway" will follow Pierce from his East LA roots to his untimely death at age 37 in 1996.

Pierce was a fixture in the LA club scene as a teenager and his love of the band Blondie led him to be president of the Blondie Fan Club. Formed in 1979 (initially calling themselves Creeping Ritual), the Gub Club mixed the raw energy of punk with blues and country to make music unlike anything that was being spit out of the LA punk scene in the early 80's. The Gun Club's sound was the blueprint that would spawn the cow-punk/paisley underground scene to follow years later. Both their debut release, 1981's Fire of Love, and follow up, 1982's Miami, are considered classics that established Pierce as one of the priemer songwriters of his generation.


Gun Club had a somewhat revolving cast of characters and contributors and, aside from Pierce, the band lineup changed frequently. Some of the musicians that would either contribute or join the band: Deborah Harry (Blondie), Pat Bag (The Bags), Linda "Texacala" Jones (Tex and the Horseheads), David Alvin (Blasters), Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) and Kid Congo Powers (at right).

More popular in Europe than his native America, Pierce (above) spent much of the late 80's and early 90's bouncing between LA, Europe, London and Japan. In August of 1995 Pierce (pictured below, shortly before his death)formed a new Gun Club lineup and returned to America, playing several well received shows in the LA area. New Gun Club material was planned and a live LP had just been released when Pierce died of a brain hemmorhage while visting his father in Salt Lake City on March 31, 1996.

The Call

When Peter Gabriel, Bono, Martin Scorsese , Jim Kerr (Simple Minds), Harry Dean Stanton, Garth Hudson and Robbie Robertson (The Band) all get together for that Friday night poker game, what do you think they listen to? Chances are, it would be something by The Call. Formed in Santa Cruz, CA in 1979, The Call came together after two Oklahoma natives (lead singer Michael Been and drummer Scott Musick) joined forces with two Bay-area musicians (guitarist Tom Ferrier and bassist Greg Freeman). Originally calling themselves Motion Pictures, the foursome played shows around the Bay Area and shopped a demo to various record labels. Ultimately they signed with Mercury Records, a division of Polydor. Hugh Padham, a veteran producer who worked with XTC, The Police and Peter Gabriel, was brought in to produce the bands debut, which was recorded in England. Released in 1982, the self titled debut immediately established The Call as a band that had something to say.


The social conscience of the band was clearly evident in their next studio release, 1983’s “Modern Romans”. This time self-produced, the album was much more of a rock-n-roll record than their debut and the political themes were turned up a notch. It was clear with this record that The Call had found their direction, both musically and lyrically, and it produced their first hit “The Walls Came Down”. Listen to “The Walls Came Down” today and the song could have just as easily been written in 2003 as 1983. Likewise with the song “Turn A Blind Eye”, the hostility Been and the group felt about the social and political world they saw around them was evident:

To the desperate young, turn a blind eye
To the old and lonely, turn a blind eye
To our inhumanity
To our death dealing vanity
To the methods of persuasion, turn a blind eye
To the masters of evasion, turn
To the science of control, turn a blind eye
To a world in chains, turn
To the sellers of illusion, turn a blind eye
To masters of confusion, turn a blind eye
To a hollow culture
To the circling vulture
To lovers of power, turn a blind eye
To the resurrection
To a world in chains, turn
I don't want to get involved
It's not my problem
I'll just ignore it
I don't want to feel this
To the starving children, turn a blind eye
To your own redemption, turn
To the horror of extinction
To a world in chains, turn

“Modern Romans” put the band on the map and they toured behind it for all of 1983 both as a headliner and supporting Peter Gabriel’s “Shock The Monkey” tour.

The relentless touring took its toll on bass player Freeman and, before the group entered the studio in 1984 to record a follow-up, he departed the band. Playing now as a trio proved to be a difficult transition for the remaining members. The result, “Scene Beyond Dreams”, would years later be recalled by Been as his least favorite of the bands early recordings.

The band would waste all of 1985 in a battle to get out of their deal with Polydor, a battle they would ultimately win and by 1986 entered the studio to record their first Electra album “Reconciled”. Also at this time Been would move to bass and keyboard player Jim Goodwin would be added. The year or so the group spent away from playing and recording was evident on “Reconciled”. Gabriel, Jim Kerr and Robbie Robertson would all play or sing on the album. Gone, however, was long time contributor keyboardist Garth Hudson and the effect was a harder, more guitar driven sound. Been’s lyrics would also take a much less confrontational and political direction. Despite having released three full length albums and with the core members of the band playing together for over 6 years to this point, “Reconciled” feels like their debut. The songs have freshness and a sound that had not previously been captured to this point in their career.

Been’s inwardly focused lyrics and the ever evolving sound of the band continued on 1987’s “Into The Woods”. If “Reconciled” felt like a debut, “Into The Woods” was far from a sophomore jinx. The sound of the band became even tighter and if anything Been’s singing and lyrics stand out even more than on any previous record. Been would later call “Into The Woods” his favorite Call recording.

The band stayed away from the studio in 1988. Been, at the suggestion of director and Call fan Martin Scorsese, participated in a screen test for Scorsese’s latest film “The Last Temptation of Christ”, where he was chosen for the role of the Apostle John. Several members of the band, Been included, also spent the summer supporting actor Harry Dean Stanton, who played harmonica and sang cover tunes, on a tour of clubs throughout the US. I actually saw one of Stanton’s shows that summer and like many Call fans am sorry to report that it was too much Stanton and too little Call.


In 1989 The Call returned to the studio to record “Let The Day Begin”. While I like the record and the title song would become the biggest hit of their career, the sound of the band had definitely evolved. It all felt a little safer to me, written and played more with radio in mind. The band was getting older and you could sense their recognition of that fact with “Let The Day Begin”. Likewise with 1990’s “Red Moon”, these were no longer angry young men, but guys with kids and mortgages. Even with acknowledged fan Bono contributing vocals on several tracks, the album sold poorly. While I didn’t much care for “Red Moon” at the time, now that I have a mortgage and two kids of my own, today I appreciate it’s more rootsier sound and introspective lyrics.

Shortly after the release of “Red Moon” and a short tour to support it, The Call took an indefinite hiatus.


In 1992 Michael Been would score and perform the soundtrack for director Paul Schrader’s movie “Light Sleeper”. An off-beat tale of a drug dealer trying to break-free, Been’s music provided the perfect backdrop for the movie. Unfortunately the CD was only released in Europe and is impossible to find.

In 1994 Been released a solo effort entitled “On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakthrough” and the band would reform in 1997, releasing “To Heaven And Back”. Surprisingly, both discs pick up not where "Red Moon" left off but would seem to fit better in the earlier "Reconciled" era. Aside from some slicker production, not much separate these two discs from some of The Call's finest earlier work and are musts for any Call fan.

Michael Been (pictured below, at right) can be found these days touring as a sound engineer in support of his son, Robert Levon Been and his band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.



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10 Songs by The Call you need to own.

The rules were simple, list 10 call songs everyone must own and chose at least one song from each release. In no particular order, they are:

1. The Walls Came Down - Modern Romans
2. Turn A Blind Eye - Modern Romans
3. The Morning - Reconciled
4. War Weary World - The Call
5. Musta Been OutTa My Mind - To Heaven And Back
6. Let the Day Begin - Let the Day Begin
7. Like You Never Been Loved - Red Moon
8. Tremble - Scene Beyond Dreams
9. Invitation - On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakthrough
10. It Could Have Been Me - Into The Woods

Hüsker Dü

Album of the Week: Land Speed Record


17 songs clocking in at a little over 26 minutes, Hüsker Dü's 1982 live LP "Land Speed Record" catches the band at their hardcore best. Admittedly, its taken me 20 odd years and several dozens tries to fully appreciate "Land Speed Record". Initially, I came across Hüsker Dü much later in their discography, and those later records when compared to "Land Speed Record" are as different as night and day. But with age comes wisdom, and I now recognize "Land Speed Record" for what it is; the early work of a band trying to find their sound. Hüsker Dü was always about building that sonic wall around each song while still allowing the words to take front and center. "Land Speed Record" is all about the wall, if you catch any of the words good for you.


The bands first full-length record, "Land Speed Record" was recorded live at the 7th Street Entry, a small club in Minneapolis, on August 15, 1981. The first time you listen to the disc you get the feeling that you've stuck your head out of the car window going 75 miles-per-hour. Air blasting you in the face, your skin rippling all while trying to keep you're eyes open so you can see where you're going. Hüsker Dü was first and foremost a hardcore band and "Land Speed Record" confirms it. There are several songs that do foreshadow the bands sound yet to come, notably "Data Control" and "Don't Try To Call". But as for the rest, its all two minutes (or less) and a cloud of dust. The murky and somewhat muffled sound quality gives the disc the appearance of being bootlegged, but in fact was recorded directly from the soundboard.


Once recorded, the band realized they didn't have the money needed to release the tape and sought the help of fellow punk upstarts The Minutemen, who released the record on their own New Alliance label. The association with The Minutemen and fellow West Coast hardcore outfit Black Flag led to Hüsker Dü being signed to their first recording contract by SST Records.

Hüsker Dü was formed in 1979 in Minneapolis when Bob Mould began to frequent a record store where Grant Hart worked. Hart would later bring bassist Greg Norton into the fold and by 1980 the trio was playing gigs in and around Minneapolis. As with "Land Speed Record", throughout the bands career Hart and Mould were the primary songwriters, with each singing the individual songs they had written. "You sing your songs, I'll sing my songs"…foreshadowing for what lay ahead between the two. Mould came from a much darker place lyrically, writing songs with much more emotion and feeling while Hart tended to have the better sense of humor of the two. The band had an impressive level of output during their brief 8 year recording career, releasing 4 studio LP's, 2 double studio LP's, 1 live album and 5 EP's. They were the first 80's underground, alternative band of note to sign to a major label, inking a deal with Warner Bros Records in 1986 that produced their final two LP's, 1986's "Candy Apple Grey" and 1987's double LP "Warehouse: Songs and Stories". But alas, heroin enters the picture, as Hart's escalating use of the drug further intensified his already stormy relationship with Mould and by 1988 the band was history.

Bob Mould has continued on with an impressive career, both solo and fronting his first post-Hüsker band Sugar. Hart formed the band Nova Mob shortly after Hüsker Dü, recording several albums before that band broke up in the early 90's. Greg Norton has been in and out of music while becoming a chef and opening a restaurant in Wisconsin.

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Thanks to whoever traded in the CD "Survival of the Fittest", a compilation disc issued by Ryko Records in 1990. On a recent trip through my favorite used record store, Half Price Books, I came across the disc. What a find, featuring a host of barely heard and obscure Australian bands (for anyone in the United States) from the mid to late 80's that recorded for the Rattlesnake and Survival record labels. Here's a quick peek at some of my favorites:

The Screaming Tribesmen : "Left In The Dark", "Casualty of Love" and "Mess With You" - The Tribesmen are the best known of the artists on the disk, with their song "I've Got A Feeling" receiving heavy play on MTV's 120 Minutes and KROQ in 1988.

Tall Tales and True: "7 = 7 Is" and "Cyclone Sally" - Tall Tales bring a Cramps-like swamp and bluesy atmosphere to the songs, with definite influences from the Paisley Underground bands like Gun Club and Dream Syndicate.

The Hitmen: "Oh No" and "I Don't Mind" - You can definitely hear the influence of the founding fathers of Aussie Punk, Radio Birdman, in these songs (which is always a good thing).

Ya Ya Choral: "Hit" - Best described as Post-Punk Pop, Aussie style.

Mick Blood & the Pushtwangers: "Hung Up" - Blood, leader of the legendary Aussie band The Lime Spiders, fronts the Swedish band The Pushtwangers here with a screaming rock-a-billy number.

Cosmic Psychos (below): "Lost Cause" - The best song on the disc, featuring the best line... "She's a lost cause, She's only 19, I'm a has-bean".

Damien Lovelock: "Harper's Bazaar" and "Ghostown" - Lovelock, lead singer of legendary Aussie band Celibate Rifles is solo here, with material much different than his work with the Rifles, adding more rootsy, jangle pop sound.

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.

Jangle Pop

In the early to mid 1980's it went by many names: jangle pop, southern rock, cow punk, ect, ect. In Los Angeles they called the movement the Paisley Underground, while adding a bit more of a psychedelic sound. For our purposes, we'll stick with jangle pop. A sound perfectly defined by Donnie and Marie; a little bit country and a little bit rock n roll. Except the country wasn't quite as country as the music coming out of Nashville in the early 1980's and the rock n roll was more punk than rock. In the early 90's we started calling it alt.country and today it's roots or Americana.



The sound found it's origins in the 60's with The Byrds (pictured above), the first band of note to employ the Rickenbacker guitar and produce the folkish-pop music, tinged with country, highlighted by the jangle of the Rickenbacker. Bands like Big Star and The Raspberries carried the torch throughout the 1970's, adding a more powerful sound with a little less jangle (hence power pop). In the early 80's, artist and producer Don Dixon, along with partner Mitch Easter, would bring the sound to new heights when they co-produced R.E.M.'s breakthrough full-length debut "Murmur" in 1983. If you look closely at the genealogy of music, jangle pop (whether it be from the 60's, 70's or 80's) has a direct branch to the alt.country and Americana music of the early 90's through today. Inevitably, when you think of jangle pop, the first thing that comes to mind is the South. The list of bands that hailed from the South was endless (R.E.M., The dB's, Pylon, Let's Active, Drivin 'N Cryin, Dreams So Real, to name a few).



While on the west coast, kids inspired by the psychedelic sound of the 60's, but not willing to give up on the ragged DIY glory of punk, inspired the Paisley Underground scene. While some of the influences may have been similar (Big Star, Byrds), the LA scene was also influenced by Buffalo Springfield, The Beach Boys and The Seeds. The genre was penned by Michael Quercio, leader of the band Three O'clock, for the outfits favored by groups in the scene. Steve Wynn, who formed the band Dream Syndicate, was a key figure in the scene after moving to LA from Davis, California. Other prominent bands from the era include Green on Red, The Bangles, House of Freaks, Blake Babies and True West.

Lets look at some of my favorite jangle pop bands that aren't always on the tip of any body's tongue (but should be) when the great jangle pop debate gets started:



Dumptruck
Origin: New Haven, Conn.
Key Recordings: D is for Dumptruck (1984), Positively Dumptruck (1986) for the country (1987)
If you can only buy one: Haul Of Fame, a best of compilation released in 2006 by Ryko, covering songs from their entire catalog.

United in New Haven, Connecticut Kirk Swan and Seth Tiven were the driving force and chief songwriters for Dumptruck. While they didn't employ a Rickenbacker, the band had the definitive jangle pop sound, drawing heavily from groups like Big Star and the Byrds. Driven by the twin guitar sound of it's two leaders, Dumptruck would also add the occasional pedal steel, mandolin and Hammond organ to give their songs a decidedly "southern" feel. After the groups second release "Positively Dumptruck" in 1986, Kirk Swan left the group under the weight of a grueling tour schedule that only heightened the tension and strain with Tiven. The first post-Swan release, 1987's "for the country", saw the band head in a decidedly roots-ier direction. After some legal wrangling with their label, 3 more albums would follow and by 2000 the group officially broke up.


The Long Ryders
Origin: Los Angeles
Key Recordings: 10-5-60 (1983), Native Sons (1984), State of Our Union (1985), Two-Fisted Tales (1987)
If you can only buy one: Native Sons

Formed in Los Angles in 1982, The Long Ryders epitomized the Paisley Underground scene emerging in LA during the early 80's. The band members had both punk (guitarist Sid Griffin, drummer Greg Sowders) and country (guitarist Stephen McCarthy) backgrounds. In the studio they worked with Henry Levy (Flying Burrito Brothers) to craft possibly the finest record produced by any of the LA bands at the time, 1984's "Native Sons". They were selling records, playing in front of capacity crowds and getting critical praise (NME called Native Sons "a modern American classic"). In 1985, they released "State of Our Union" which shot to the top of college radio behind the single "Looking for Lewis and Clark". It was during this time that they took off in Europe, the result of non-stop touring of the UK and Spain. By 1987 they released "Two-Fisted Tales" and U2 came calling, looking for the band to open for their upcoming Joshua Tree tour. And then it was over. Worn out from the relentless touring of the past 4 years, bassist Tom Stevens left the band to devote more time to his family. Stephen McCarthy would leave a few months later. With one half the group now gone, Griffin and Sowders decided to call it quits.





Guadalcanal Diary
Origin: Marietta, GA
Key Recordings: Watusi Rodeo (1983), Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man (1984), Jamboree (1986), 2x4 (1987), Flip-Flop (1989)
If you can only buy one: Rhino Handmade re-issued Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man and Jamboree one disc in 2003.

Spanning the decade of the 80's, Guadalcanal Diary formed in Marietta, Georgia in 1981 and broke up in 1989 (save 1997 reunion tour). Led by chief songwriter and singer Murray Attaway, the band would become known for songs with wit and humor, sung in Attaway's unmistakable tenor. Their debut EP "Watusi Rodeo" was an immediate hit on college radio in 1983, with several of the songs included on the first full length LP "Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man" a year later. The band collaborated with producer Don Dixon on all but "Jamboree". Attaway would go on to release one solo album, 1993's "Thrall".



Rain Parade
Origin: Los Angeles
Key Recordings: Emergency Third Rail (1983), Explosions in the Glass Palace (1984), Beyond the Sunset (1985), Crashing Dream (1986)
If you can only buy one: Emergency Third Rail

Formed by brothers David and Steven Roback, Rain Parade provided one of the best albums to come from the scene, 1983's "Emergency Third Rail". With a sound influenced by equal parts Velvet Underground and the Byrds, the album was solid from start to finish. But following the release, David Groback would leave the group and the sound took a heavier, darker tone, with "Explosions in the Glass Palace" an EP released in 1984. The groups final release "Crashing Dream" was just that, as Rain Parade called it quits less than a year later.


Check out some of the bands in this blog on You Tube below.