This is a great video - thanks Bandit999 - of history's mightiest jazz-punk trio, Victoria, B.C.'s NoMeansNo. This is the tour for the album "Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy, which was their first without Andy Kerr (and their first with Tom Holliston. While in the early days Holliston stayed in the background far more than Kerr ever did that just left more space for the Wright brothers to freak you out!
So what's your take on the post-Kerr era of NoMeansNo? Let us know in the COMMENTS section.
While we're mourning the death of Canadian folk-hero Stompin' Tom Connors (more HERE), let's give him a punk rock send-off with The Hanson Brothers' (a.k.a. NoMeansNo) version of "The Hockey Song":
Hey! Please come check out the ten great videos of the early Vancouver scene over at The Big Takeover!
While Last Call suffers a bit from vaulting ambition - forty-eight songs is a tall order - this 1991 musical history of Vancouver music, punk and beyond, from Zulu Records (ZULU 5-2) is stellar document of a place and time. As a historical document, however, it is stunning. Note how the compilers cover so many of the different facets of the Vancouver Underground (punk, art-noise, garage-rock, alternative, power-pop, cow-punk and even CanCon radio stars 54-40! So while it's not the sort of collection most people will listen to straight through, the pickings here are rich and you will be rewarded with something new and shining each time you comb through it.
I've noted where further music is available elsewhere (including other blogs). If I cold ask for some crowd-sourcing here it would be to ask if you have any rips and scans of out-of-print releases by other bands here that you'd like to contribute let us know in the COMMENTS section. Alternately, if you know where any out-of-print releases by the bands herein are avaialble on other blogs also tell us that in the COMMENTS.
1.01 Furies– What Do You Want Me To Be
1.02 Skulls – Fucked Up Baby
1.03 D.O.A. – Disco Sucks (More HERE)
1.04 Stiffs – Fuck You
1.05 Generators – I Wanna Be A Girl
1.06 Dishrags – I Don't Love You (more to come?)
1.07 Active Dog – Nothing Holding You (more HERE)
1.08 Biz – I Don't Give A Shit
1.09 Shades – New Clientele
1.10 Pointed Sticks – Real Thing (more to come)
1.11 Private School – Science Fiction
1.12 Subhumans – Slave To My Dick (much more to come)
1.13 Young Canadians – Hawaii
1.14 Female Hands – Divided By Three
1.15 UJ3RK5 – Eisenhower And The Hippies
1.16 Modernettes – Barbra
1.17 Insex – Off The Deep End
1.18 AKA – 634 Dog
1.19 Secret V's – Waiting For The Drugs To Take Hold
1.20 Tim Ray – Seen A Fight
1.21 Corsage – Shame I Feel
1.22 Popular Front – Synchronized Swimming
1.23 54-40 – Yank
1.24 Scissors – Mystery Movie
1.25 Los Popularos – Can't Come Back (more to come)
1.26 Moral Lepers – Music Is Your Body
1.27 Enigmas – Teenage Barnacle (more HERE)
1.28 Actionauts – Party Dog
2.01 Family Plot – The Crush
2.02 Nomeansno – Self Pity (more HERE)
2.03 Work Party– Work Song
2.04 Bolero Lava – Inevitable
2.05 I, Braineater – Edge
2.06 Go Four 3 – Just Another Day (more HERE)
2.07 Animal Slaves – Learning To Live
2.08 Brilliant Orange – Happy Man (more HERE)
2.09 Slow – Have Not Been The Same (more HERE)
2.10 Shanghai Dog – American Desert
2.11 No Fun – Be Like Us (more to come)
2.12 Cannon Heath Down – Bone Of Contention
2.13 Lost Durangos – Evil Town (more HERE)
2.14 Herald Nix – Dirty Ol' Town
2.15 Poisoned – To Tell The Truth (more HERE)
2.16 Bob's Your Uncle – Talk To The Birds
2.17 Rhythm Mission – King Blood
2.18 Scramblers – Solitary Man
2.19 Oversoul Seven – 1 + 1 Is 3 (more HERE)
2.20 Hip Type – Darker Than This
Please click over to The Big Takeover for my review of NoMeansNo live.
Y'know in case I couldn't talk you into downloading any of the two gargantuan-sized NoMeansNo singles/comp tracks/live songs bootlegs (see HERE), then do not miss this exquisitely packaged 1993 single which contains the band's rip-snortin' cover of two seventies Vancouver punk classics; the Subhuman's "Oh Canaduh" and DOA's "New Age". Hell, even if you did take those, add this for the artwork alone (and add the chance to add these two tracks to your next playlist!)
This is, I believe, was the last NMN release to feature Andy Kerr. While the band did amazing work before his arrival and since his departure there is a fearsome intensity about the Kerr era that is hard to replicate.
Oh yeah all the crafty artwork is courtesy of punk artist John Yates who worked with Jello Biafra and briefly ran a label, Allied Records, which always looked stunning!
So what's your take on the Kerr era of NoMeansNo? Let us know in the COMMENTS section(where you'll find the Oh Canaduh/New Age 7" link).
Maddeningly, there is much overlap between this internet-curated bootleg of OUT-OF-PRINT NoMeansNo singles, comp tracks and live versions and the one posted earlier (see HERE). However, the sad truth is you need to collect 'em all, to get all these delicacies. And by 'delicacies', I mean songs like the band's a capella cover of Dead Kennedys "Forward to Death" and my absolute favourite rarity, the snarling rocker, "Ya Little Creep". Perhaps one days the men of NMN will compile these up for us and we can drag these acceptable-sounding MP3's into the recyle bin. Till then... "hunker down y'all..."
(Click to enlarge)
So what's your favourite NoMeansNo rarity? Let us know in the COMMENTS section(where you'll find the Lost Tracks link).
For my list of ten great NoMeansNo videos, please come visit The Big Takeover
In 1988 music sucked like an open chest wound. Mainstream radio neared one of its cyclical nadirs and the complete co-option of the underground by cheese-metal continued unabated. That
was the year I bought Sex Mad in hopes that NoMeansNo would be 1-2 Fuck-You
kinda punk band. No. NoMeansNo appropriated the insularity, anger and
independence of hardcore punk but followed its rigid structures only
momentarily before spitting out bursts of skronk-noise, bebop
time-signatures, almost funky bass lines and a cappella breakdowns
without notice. Sex Mad had the horrifying “Dad” (legend claimed a band
member had been a battered child, though the black-humoured closing line
made that doubtful) but it was, and remains, a musically and
psychologically dense record.Since Sex Mad baffled me, I skipped their next two releases, Small Parts isolated and Destroyed, and The Day Everything Became Nothing.
However, in 1989 when NoMeansNo played at the legendarily grotty Royal Albert Arms I still had to go. Partly, I just wanted see what they looked like since, as with any good prog rock band, they didn’t plaster their LP’s with band photos. So, I’m standing by the stage, the air supply clogged with thick smoke and the stench of spilled beer, when this forty-something guy with grey hair (parted to the left) steps on the stage. I was sure it had to be some teenage runaway’s dad, since back then the Albert had a legendarily lax i.d. policy. When he approached the mike, I imagined him saying, “Suzy. I know you’re here. Your mother is really upset and we just want you to come home…” Then he strapped on a bass. Either he was going to serenade Suzy or…. Then the drummer took his place – not hidden behind the band but right on the frontline. Finally, a spastic-faced guitarist suited up and they tore off. That show remains amongst the most devastating performances I’ve ever witnessed. What we’ll call the classic line up (Andy Kerr on guitar and vocals, John Wright on bass and vocals and Rob Wright on bass and vocals) played a set built around the just-released album, Wrong. The set included, the tiniest, sliver of a guitar solo (preceded by an announcement), gut-wrenching bass playing and the most precisely articulated drumming of all time.
Caught in the band's clutches, I went back and purchased Sex Mad (again), no to mention the rest of their discography. Yes, I also bought the T-shirts, the posters and the stickers as well - merch was a habit back then. I also discovered that NoMeansNo were one of the few hardcore-associated bands that women could love (maybe it was the feminist inspired band name or that almost-danceable bass or...) and wanted to borrow the t-shirt you bought that first night…
I shall not drift too far into nostalgia here, because albums like Wrong are so powerful and jagged that no Little Chill sentimentality could dull them.
Whether Wrong is their high water mark or just another facet of their genius is a highly contested subject amongst fans and critics. Whatever side of the fence you fall on, remember that their entire catalog is at once deranged and shining. So listen to this fascinating bootleg of OUT-OF-PRINT singles, comp tracks and live versions from the eighties and nineties and then go see them on tour and buy some music!
(click to enlarge)
So what's the best NoMeansNo album? Let us know in the COMMENTS section(where you'll find the Rarities link).
I just transcribed a sprawling interviews with John Wright of NoMeansNo which is up at THE BIG TAKEOVER. I'd love all to you MRML readers to come by for a look (and maybe leave a comment or two!)
MRML is a blog about the devestating effects of culture: music, politics, comics plus etc. blah blah blah. At times MRML will post fine, unpurchasable three-chord obscurica (punk, pop-punk, new wave, mod, power-pop, gospel, reggae, hardcore, rockabilly, folk, country...whatever.) - - - - - - "The otherwise unavailable files in this blog are posted for a limited time and are intended for educational, non-commercial use. These files were transcribed from what are believed to be out-of-print sources. If you are aware of any of these items being readily available from commercial sources, or if any of these files infringe upon rights that you hold, please notify us so that we can quickly remove the referenced items immediately." - - - SUPPORT THE ARTISTS - BUY MUSIC!
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MRML does not plan to restore all of the content lost in The Great Mediafire Gutting of 2012. Polite requests may be made in the appropriate section, regular commenters will get priority.
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