The Sweaters: Kick Me

Third work, same as the first*.


Download Kick Me CD

* I kid. It's still good, because like I told you, Pete Campbell is no rock n' roll loser. Even nowadays, while working as a janitor at an old folks home he's still kicking ass, as he proves, rather nicely, on this recent track, Rich Folks Are People Too."

The Sweaters: Let Me Out

The Sweaters second album, 1993's Let Me Out, has hideous art and good songs.

"You're playing in an empty bar" leader Pete Campbell wails on "Give 'Em What They Want", and we know he's been there. Then when Joey Shithead (?) grunts along with the mildly political "A Little Bit of Fascism" the band's bar-rock-pop-punk grows rawer. In fact, the shouted vocals and ragged guitars on tracks like "Something" and "The Back of my Hand" (not the Jags song) are reminiscent of some of the hard sloggers of '77 like Chelsea or the UK Subs. And through it all Pete's song-writing stays tight and his aw-shucks attitude remains unflappable.



Download Let Me Out CD

The Sweaters: The Pop Thing

Pete Campbell is no rock n' roll loser.

Campell's began by leading a spiky new wave band named Pink Steel, who played in the late seventies Vancouver punk scene, alongside, the Pointed Sticks, the Young Canadians and the Modernettes. Pink Steel put out two singles, one of which is available thanks to the earth-shatteringly wonderful site known as Killed By Death Records.





Next, during the retro-lovin' Og era (see here) of Canadian music he lead the Wardells, a jangly power-pop band with an eternally sunny disposition. The Wardells released two slabs of vinyl and made a series of ultra-low budget videos that belonged to that follow-the-song's-narrative school of video-making that so dominated the eighties.
The Wardells album is now available at Wilfully Obscure!







Then as the nineties got guitar-heavy, Campbell formed pop-punk band the Sweaters. The Sweaters rubbed shoulders with the pre-Dookie pop-punk underground even if, as so-called "older guys" they employed a kinda rock n' roll bar band style. Campells' lengthy history, only served to make their 1991 album, The Pop Thing, stronger, catchier and wittier. Campbell's lyrics, whether celebrating Young Fresh Fellows/Fastbacks' guitarist Kurt Bloch in "Kurt Got Hurt", offering a pep talk in "Don't Let Things Get Ugly" or decrying identity-politics group think in "The Pop Thing" are always a highlight of his work. Like all his best songs , the title track, "The Pop Thing" is a rip-snorting power-pop-punk tune, with kicking backing vocals and a good chunky rhythm.

Download The Pop Thing


Years ago, NoMeansNo's record label, Wrong Records, put out a series of hockey-themed records called Puck Rock (See here). Gracing the first volume from 1992, was The Sweaters, playing the contrarians with a grumpy yet rollicking tune called, "Hockey Sucks."

A fitting song to listen to as the interminable NHL playoffs slowly grind down.


Next: Sweat It Out.

Only Ones: Fools

The artwork for the Only Ones' (see here) fifth and final single, 1980's Fools, is so very charming. Check out the fifties table cloth backdrop, the awkward brackets ("featuring Peter and Pauline"), the sad duet shot plus the retro-sixties black and white back cover. The artwork and the fact that both tracks here are album tracks may be further proof of record label sabotage.


For all those problems, the songs remain strong. The duet with Pauline Murray (formerly of Penetration) is a high n' lonesome song which, although written by seventies country also-ran Johnny Duncan, sounds like what Leonard Cohen might have written, had he decamped to Nashville instead of New York. The B-side is a slightly more ska-flecked take on Perrett's usual gruff bleakness and at 1:46 it brings the singles's total length to 4:06. Brevity is beautiful.

Only Ones: T.I.T.W.

The Only One's fourth single, 1979's Trouble in the World, is taken from their final album, Baby's Got a Gun. As the splendid picture sleeve may imply Peter Perrett's now channeling Jim Morrison AND Lou Reed (AND hanging out with Johnny Thunders - Perrett played with his fellow addict, on Thunders' solo album, So Alone. Here's the two of them stumbling through the "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone.")



While "Trouble in the World" contains all those Only Ones trademarks; the gritty vocals, the supple rhythms and those the sneaky guitar solos, it never seems to outshine the better LP tracks, like "The Happy Pilgrim" or "Oh Lucinda". Looking at their measly handful of singles, it almost seems as if their record company sabotaged them after the failure of "Another Girl, Another Planet".


The Only Ones - Trouble in this Life


"Your Chosen Life" is a non-album track and is a little listless.