So we're talking about Canadian punk bands that either weathered the eighties synth shit-storm or were withered by it. (See HERE and HERE and even HERE) but don't ask me to explain this particular jag.) During such a discussion it would be negligent of me to ignore 39 Steps, some of whom began life as Montreal's teen garage-punks The 222's before moving to Toronto and forming the slightly more polished 39 Steps. The band's mixture of glam, punk, goth, pop and metal (à la Lords of the New Church) helped them get noticed far beyond their local scene.
In a weird turn of the events that could only happen in the eighties, the band got to be a punch line in Woody Allen's Academy-Award winning film, Hannah and her Sisters. Allan probably hated the band as much as his screen character (such as it is) did but he must've loved the fact that the band that named themselves after Hitchcock's classic 1935 film.
As for me, back in '85 I played "Slip
Into the Crowd" for anyone I could (and I obsessed over forcing people to hear great
songs in high school the way some of my peers obsessed over
basketball or dope-smoking). "Sex in Miami" and "Freak Show" were also
pretty cool goth-pop songs but not in the same league, alas.
Bass – Joe Ceratto
Drums – André Gagné
Guitar – Pierre Major, Richard Paul
Vocals – Chris Barry
39 Steps - Producer
Update Chris from the 222's said:
If anyone thinks they might be in Montreal over the weekend of Dec 9-10, 2011, the recently resurrected 222s are gonna be doing a rare gig at le Cabaret Mile End on the 9th, and the following day I'm gonna unleash my new "solo" band on the world at Cafe Campus, Chris Barry's Shaken Babies. The 222s will be doing, uh, strictly 222s material while the Shaken Babies live set is a mix of old 39 Steps and Pillbox [NYC] songs along with some new stuff from my/our forthcoming record. So if you think you're gonna be in Montreal that weekend please come on out to one or both of these gigs.
So now that I've forced "Slip Into the Crowd" on you, oh far more world-savvy audience, let me know your reaction in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the 39 Steps S/T EP link).
