The Viletones: Saturday Night/Sunday Morning (1983)

Roberto's Rarities:
An irregular MRML series powered by the wild generosity of our reader, Roberto: Enjoy and don't forget to leave our benefactor a thank-you comment.

"In 1972 every band in the world was Grand Funk, now every band in the world is the Stooges."

Lester Bands in a 1981 Viletones review.

Yesterday (see HERE) we both rebutted and lauded Toronto's punk scene of the seventies, of which The Viletones were crucial players. The Viletones, led by singer Steven Leckie, were not quitters and kept their Stooge-punk sound alive through the mid-eighties and then roared back in the nineties. This live min-album kicks it hard and catchy and is made all the more impressive by how out-of-step it was for 1983.



A1         Outta My Mind       
A2         Nothin On You       
A3         Leave Me Alone       
A4         Possibilities       
A5         Dirty Feeling       
B1         Keep Running       
B2         Girl From My Past       
B3         Danger Boy       
B4         Last Guy In Town       

Recorded Live at Larry's Hideaway June 11 1983 with the Comfort Sound mobile studio.


HOMEPAGE

Localism and its Discontents: A Regional Rant

Disclaimer: the following  diatribe, which hinterlanders the world over may relate to, is no way directed at the actual people of Toronto, just its cultural mavens.

Do all Canadians hate Toronto?

Not really but many of us outside the 416 area code do despise how Toronto's still-omnipresent media trumps up its culture, despite the fact that on a per capita  - and per government grant - basis it rarely produces its share of winners. It's like how the city's media still sells its hapless hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs*, as "Canada's Team", despite all evidence to the contrary. (Side note to my countrymen: If you need a survey to prove Canadians love the the Habs more then the Leafs, you may have taken a few too many pucks to the head). And the part that embitters us regional-types is that we all get inundated with whatever Toronto-based media is hyping, in the same way the CBC plays Leafs games on Hockey Night in Canada almost every damn Saturday night**.

This blatant localism can also be seen in almost any discussion about the seventies punk scene in Canada. Civic boosters (see this list) claim that while New York and London produced era-defining bands like The Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and Blondie, Toronto produced comparably great bands like The Viletones, Teenage Head, The Battered Wives, The Diodes and (close neighbours) The Demics. If some readers go, Who the Hell...?, you'd be forgiven. Despite having some truly excellent bands, some classic records and some legendary shows the influence of Toronto's punk scene is in NO way even slightly comparable to those cities, regardless of how you qualify it. So even though the more isolated, less moneyed Vancouver scene of the times spawned a far more influential set of sounds, T.O. punk pundits glorify it's modest accomplishments just like those damn Leafs!

It's this Torontonian insecurity, it's near-constant pleas to be seen as an elite, international city, that grates on so many Canadians. If Toronto's proponents, musical or otherwise,  looked at themselves with some steely-eyed realism, then they'd tell their stories in a way that would do their city proud.

So no, there's no Toronto hatred here, in fact I'd like to spend the next week or so celebrating the legacy of Toronto's original punk scene without any of that rose-tinted retro-hype that only diminishes the bands' actual legacies. Perhaps if I explained the Toronto's scene was a notch below Cleavland's storied scene, it might give a better sense of perspective on the city's worthy accomplishments. As long as I don't have to mouth any hyperbolic revisionism, I'd love to speak of the courage and innovation of the bands who slugged it out in in the sleazy underside of Toronto the Good.

So readers, was I too harsh on Toronto, too soft or did I just leave you baffled? Let us know in the COMMENTS section.

Tomorrow: The Viletones

* Of to a strong start this season, I'll admit.


**Yes, the internet age has lessened the stiffing influence of Toronto...a bit.

Small Talk Isolated and Destroyed: NoMeansNo Interviewed

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!)







HOMEPAGE

The Ex-Pistols: The Swindle Continues

I remember back in the middle eighties when the record racks were all of a sudden flush with semi-legit Sex Pistols records. For a band with one album the Sex Pistols section in Records on Wheels was fat with product. Obviously a lawsuit had been lost somewhere.

Early Sex Pistols producer Dave Goodman,  discussed previously HERE and HERE, is clealry behind this dog's breakfast which includes his early demo recordings of the real Pistols (Glen Matlock era) from 1976 plus a side of of oddities by his studio-created 'group', The Ex-Pistols. (Check out this documentary about Goodman, on You Tube in its entirety:)





Tracklist
1     Sex Pistols, The* –     God Save The Queen     3:34    
2     Sex Pistols, The* –     Problems     4:15    
3     Sex Pistols, The* –     Pretty Vacant     3:33    
4     Sex Pistols, The* –     Liar     2:43    
5     Sex Pistols, The* –     E.M.I.     3:15    
6     Sex Pistols, The* –     New York     3:05    
7     Sex Pistols, The* –     No Fun     6:59    
8     Sex Pistols, The* –     Anarchy In The U.K.     4:04    
9     Ex Pistols, The –     Here We Go Again     4:10    
10     Ex Pistols, The –     Silly Thing     2:54    
11     Ex Pistols, The –     Dancing On The Dole     2:33    
12     Ex Pistols, The –     Anarchy In The U.K.     3:38    
13     Ex Pistols, The –     Revolution In The Classroom     3:18    
14     Ex Pistols, The –     Judging Minds     3:03    
15     Ex Pistols, The –     Sex On 45     3:45    
16     Ex Pistols, The –     The Swindle Continues     3:11

So what do you make of this batch of Goodman curated Sex Pistols oddities and absurdities? Let us know in the comments section (where you'll find the Swindle Continues link).

The Spazzys and Marky Ramone: Live, 2004

(Image taken from RamonetotheBone)

Hey come check out my top ten Spazzys videos over at The Big Takeover!!


Yesterday, we talked about the return of Australia's queens of pop-punk, The Spazzys' (see HERE) . Today, we're going to re-present to you a bootleg of the band playing in Sydney with Marky Ramone back in 2004. Marky's role in this show, aside from drumming, was to introduce all of the songs with this unbelievable stage banter which sounds somewhere between Paul Stanley and Wayne Newton - "We're gonna get some sun in California now" - and  thereby validates an iron rule of showbusiness, "Never let the drummer talk". All the rest of the music is provided by the Spazzys, with usual drummer Allly taking most of the lead vocals. Almost the entire set list consists of Ramones classics done with good spunk but the two exceptions, a take on Joey Ramone's version of "It's a Wonderful World" and the Spazzys own, very fitting, "I Wanna Cut My Hair Like Marky Ramone" really makes this a fascinating document .



Spazzys- Spazzys TV from agostino soldati on Vimeo.

(All great stuff here - but to see the Marky/Spazzys clip, skip to 9:37) 


 For lots more Spazzys on MRML go HERE!

 (photo courtesy of i94bar.com)

Let us know what you think of this Spazzys-Ramones alliance in the COMMENTS section (where you'll find a link for either an MP3 or a .Flac version of the show).

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