Tradition I

With first lines of the album, “I’m on way to bigger and better days” it’s clear that the Doughboys (John Kastner on guitar/vocals, Scott McCullough on guitar, Jon Bond Head on bass and Brock Pytel on drums) were going to be a more driven outfit than the Asexuals.
With the 1987 passing of both Minneapolis’ Husker Du and the L.A.’s the Descendants (both of whom honed their maniacal work ethic under the charge of SST Records), it seemed to be Montreal's the Doughboys who were destined to carry on those bands' tradition of melding aggression, distortion and songcraft.
The band (dubbed The Whoa-boys for those relentless whoa-oh sing-alongs) did bear that torch with aplomb. In fairness, with their major label affiliations, Vision Streetwear sponsorship and those damn white-boy dreads, they also furthered the commercialization of North American punk, even hanging on long enough to get a hit single in the grunge era.
1987’s Whatever, however, proved punks of that era who grew out their hair didn’t have to play college-rock or speed metal. This album drives like a hardcore record but it’s swarming with hooky tunes and melodic guitar lines. It’s hit-after-hit and even a certain uniformity of sound can’t slow this fucker down.

Kastner’s song writing is at a peak herein (as heard in such chargers as “Tradition and “I Remember”) but he is not the group's only force to be reckoned with. One of the secrets behind a pop-punk band of depth is the drummer/songwriter a la Tommy Ramone of the Ramones, Grant Hart of Husker Du and Duncan Redmond from Snuff. To prove they’d learned this lesson well, The Doughboys kit-basher was one Brock Pytel, who wrote what may be the album’s most memorable song, the zen-punk, “Holiday” (“There’s no holiday from living there’s no shelter from it all, there’s no escape from dying – no one sees you when you’re standing tall”).


Many people consider the altogther-excellent Whatever the Doughboys most powerful album. They are wrong but easily forgiven.

Download Whatever

Kicked out of the Welli-o’s

The Asexuals got me kicked out of Wellington’s, one of Winnipeg’s sleaziest bars. I was sixteen and my brother-in-law lied for me but to no avail. So I bought their L.P., Be What you Want, and spent the next six months just listening.

Like me; the Asexuals’ John Kastner came to the (North) American hardcore party a tad late. By 1984 the movement was splintering. As a result the rather conservative Asexuals adopted an ultra-clean sound dominated by a metallic but tinny guitars, sing-along choruses, forced tempos and ill-considered socio-political lyrics. Perhaps, it was kind of a punk-lite sound like the one that NOFX and one-hundred thousand other Fat Wreck-Chords tainted bands would bleed dry well into the next millennium. However, the Asexuals made something of it all.

Their first single (get it here), from1984, was on Og Records (discussed ad nauseum here at MRML). Be What you Want (get it here), came out later that year and got good notices from places like Maximumrocknroll.

By the time I got past the hairless and tattooed behemoth that guarded the door at Smellington’s and actually got to see the Asexuals tear up the stage, they’d moved towards a more mid-tempo Husker Dü sound. In fact, I taped Husker Dü’s Candy Apple Grey and Contemporary World onto a cassette back-to-back and they mixed well. The album still trades in speedy, catchy vaguely-political punk songs like “Where Were You” and “Stop the City” but Kastner was hitting upon the sound that he’d soon hone.


To Be Continued!


Download Contemporary World


Speaking of vague politics, let us pause to remember Bob Dylan’s anthem of generational revolt, “The Time s They Are-A-Changin’”, a song that in the master’s own hands has changed its meaning many times. In the scabrous early 80’s HxCx milieu that the Asexuals inhabited the song, despite its quasi-biblical language, became another “one-two-fuck-you” sorta song. I have my doubts the teenage Asexuals even listened to Dylan’s original before they recorded the version for Contemporary World (Modern Times anyone?). Their blueprint was clearly the version by The Wanderers, a band comprised of ¾ of Britain’s Sham 69 and ¼ of Cleveland, USA’s the Dead Boys (that 25% being front man, Stiv Bators). Despite their pedigree, the band's sole album sunk without a trace, rendering it a less than wildly influential work. Nonetheless, minus the jarring use of a string section, the Wanderers' basic arrangement (especially those backing vocals!) was clearly stolen wholesale by the Asexuals. Brazen musical theft? There’s a crime Bob himself would understand well.


The Wanderers - “The Time s They Are-A-Changin’”



The Asexuals - “The Time s They Are-A-Changin’”

The Wiz: Mega-Epilogue

The Decoy era of the MC4 was rounded out by the underwhelming Who Cares Wins, a model of the infamous Second Album Slump. While the 1990 album is much less apathetic than the title might indicate, it does still seem like the band is losing the battle with their own formula. It's hard to get a bead on the precise weakness here. This is still a band going full tilt yet their momentum is limited by a certain sameness of playing and production that occasionally marred even their greater work. Some of the songs, such as "No Such Place as Home", still soar high but something has come to an end. A re-invention was coming but that's a story for a future post.



Download Who Cares Wins

For the fanatic Wiz-ite, here's a wee little bootleg called Extras that contains two tracks from a 1988 compilation called Undeground Rockers, the B-side to a late single (Android Dreams) and a cover of the Beatles' "A Hard Days Night".

Download Extras

Then, to hear all of singles posted earlier all wrapped up together with a bonus track, go visit the incredible Hangover Heart Attack who have posted Terribly Sorry Bob.

Finally, for now anyway, check out the MC4's Peel Sessions CD over at Primitive Offerings

The Wiz V

The final single of the MC4's first and, possibly finest era (the Decoy era lasted till 1990) was actually a four-song e.p., referred to as either the There Goes My Happy Marriage e.p. or simply Finish. Side one's tracks, "Finish" and "Severance" seem marked by bitter resignation and workmanlike song-writing. Side two, however, contains the gracious but flat-out rocker that is "Thanx" and the haunting shape-of-pop-to-come ballad, "Square Through a Circle". It's like another brilliant MC4 single but with two outtakes attached.


Download Finish

The Wiz IV

On the 1989 single Awkward Kid, Wiz and co. moved closer to what the Brits call "bed-sit angst" ("naval-gazing" and "Morrissey" are possible synonyms) and the small-scale melodrama detracts a bit. Primary A-side "Awkward Kid" is a touch over-confessional ("Deep down I'm still an awkward kid... I'm as lost as I ever was before") but it still crams a lot of pop smarts into 1:54.


In "Cradle" the band's clingier, self-pitying side almost trumps what is still a pretty fair tune.


Download Awkward Kid