Sunday, September 16, 2007

Chapter Fourteen: Og n' Me

I’ve been in a band. So has everyone, right? Well, no. Lots of people have no musical talent. I don’t mean the way failed musicians deride the playing of Ramones or Meg White - I mean people who by universal standards have no place on the performance stage. Such untalented music lovers work in record stores, write music criticism or manage bands. I did those sorts of things later. My band (Jane Fonda and the Hondas) was a two-piece (a sorta cross between They Might Be Giants and The Shaggs) who my, vastly more talented partner (later a member of the socialist-punk band The Strike), described as, “Sludgeabilly with extra sludge”.

“Sludgeabilly” was Gerald Van Herk’s self-description of his band, Deja Voodoo, a Canadian two-piece psychobilly-swamp-punk band that sounded like the Cramps with a denser, leaner, cruder taste for pre-rock blues. Fifteen years later that sound could get you on the front of Rolling Stone but in the cultural vacuum that was the late 1980’s almost no could hear Deja Voodoo scream. They toured the country by Greyhound and started one of the most diverse yet cohesive indie labels of all-time: Og Records. Og pilloried the vacuousness of the nineteen-eighties by pushing bands bands who were a hundred different shades of anachronistic: Western-Swing, gospel-punk, garage rock, country blues, psychedelic, 77 punk, lounge-jazz, faux girl-group and cow-punk and I’ve just begun. It was the vinyl era and the five-volume 'It Came From Canada' series (the icfucks as Gerald called them) sent me on a nationalistic music bender, which I never regretted.

They also inspired me to form a band and perform one earth-shattering show for fourteen close personal friends, thirteen of whom were still close personal friends after we finished. We performed two songs; a butchered cover of Billy Bragg's ‘Strange Things Happen’ and an original called ‘Socialized Hairdressing’ and then we served pizza. Don’t count it against Gerald it’s not really his fault.

The Dik Van Dykes worshipped one of the all-time great neglected bands (The Rezillos) and hence they were the Og band I loved the most. Musical comedy is a Canadian Weakness but The Diks pulled it off with scads of aplomb. The songs are hummable, if mangled, and the lyrics will return a thousand joys - even if you never understand them all.

Download

Deja Voodoo was an acquired taste which seeing their flailing live concerts finally imparted me with. (Their live introductions were spot-on, “This is a song about my girlfriend. It’s called My Girlfriend. “This is a song about Saskatchewan – it’s called Big Pile of Mud.) This is their most distinctive album – enjoy.

Download

My Dog Popper was not an Og-affiiliated band that I listened to a lot but two considerable music guys (Mike Koop of a million Winnipeg bands including Kicker and Winston of Nuclear Armed Hogs blog) requested it – so here it be. Sorry for the lack of cover art (it is is one album well-served by its cover) and the dodgy sound quality.

Download

52 comments:

  1. Great post!

    I've had numerous enquiries from folks looking for the Dik Van Dykes LP. You just might have the only surviving copy LOL...

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  2. Superb post & site Jeffen!! I didn't knew about your FABULOUS site until you wrote a reply to the Rezillos post at Re-upped!. Now I'll have some diggin' to do here at "Music Ruined My Life", I'm sure you've posted a bunch of great stuff :-)

    Thx again!

    BTW: I'm gonna link to "Music Ruined My Life" over at "Re-upped!" and at "Born in the Basement".

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  3. Thanks muchly for the Dik Van Dykes.

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  4. Thanks for comments guys- always a treat.

    and toxxy I added Re-upped to my blog links where it will sit alongside dgrador's excellent Ocanadarm.

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  5. I have to copies of Nobody Likes... (one is mint!) and a copy o Big pile o Mud... thanks for these MP3s...The Og "It came from Canada" 5 album series were posted here
    http://sonofspam.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/it-came-from-canada-vol-5/

    Jerry Jerry and the Son's of Rhytmn.... rule. But yes...the Dik Van Dykes are my favs too.
    Have not found a copy of the Dik Van Dykes second album "Waste Mor Vinyl"...never heard it either...sniff. If you find it, please post it! Thanks very much for the MP3s.

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  6. Jon

    My vinyl of "Nobody Likes" is worn thin but I ripped it anyway.

    Unfortunately I sold my copy of "Waste MOR Vinyl" years ago and all I have left is a really bad-sounding tape. I might rip it anyway just for giggles. It's nowhere near as good but it's still fun.

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  7. There are a couple of live tracks and one from "It came from Canada 5" on the DVD's my space page
    http://www.myspace.com/thedikvandykes

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  8. Love the Deja Voodoo post. Never missed a show when they were in town. If you have Too Cool to Live, Too Smart to Die, I'd be grateful. I've been singing Cheese and Crackers to my wife for about 20 years now.

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  9. I'm originally from Hamilton and love the Dik Van Dykes. I have both albums and listen to them still....great blog. Keep up the great Canadian stuff

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  10. Thanks for the message Harley

    If you have (or can make)a decent digital copy of "Waste MOR Vinyl" PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send it to me and I will post it post-haste (with due credit of course?.

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  11. I'm listening to Nobody Likes on vinyl right now. For my money the Dik Van Dykes were hugely unappreciated relative to the quality of their music. Still one of my favorite bands almost 20 years later.
    Saw them live several times too and feel privileged to be able to say that.

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  12. I'm listening to Nobody Likes on vinyl right now. For my money the Dik Van Dykes were hugely unappreciated relative to the quality of their music. Still one of my favorite bands almost 20 years later.
    Saw them live several times too and feel privileged to be able to say that.

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  13. Thanks so much! I actually have Nobody Likes The Dik Van Dykes on vinyl but no turntable. This will be great! I was at McMaster '84-'88 and I was a huge fan of this band. I followed them everywhere. I used to have the cassette of them live at the Gown & Gavel but misplace it years ago. Thanks again!!

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  14. These posts kind of took me by surprise. Thanks for the kind words, folks. This is my first blog post ever, I think. If you want any of my old stuff, including Waste Mor Vinyl for starters, just tell me how to upload it to all of you and I'll do it. It's sitting here on my computer waiting to be shared I guess. I just never figured anyone would want to hear it again. This could ruin your life all over again!

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  15. Dik

    Wow

    Thanks for visiting and catching some props. This has been a popular post and has had links from other fans. We remember.

    I was going to rip a tape of the Waste MOR Vinyl but if you post it I'll link to your site. Or if you want to send it to me I would be frickin' ecstatic to post a nice version of a very underrated album.

    Would love to hear anything else that you have. Still holding out hope for a CD Re-issue someday.

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  16. Hey jeffen, did Dik (Mike Johnson) get back to you with the "Waste Mor Vinyl" Mp3s... was it really him?

    cheers

    jon

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  17. And what about Dik's (Mike Johnson's) I love My Shitsu (sp?) band. They were going back in 2000-2003 as I recall. Really funny. They posted all their tracks on their old web page, but I lost them, sadly. Please Dik, set up Jeffen with all your work, it must be heard!

    Cheers

    Jon

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  18. I got an invite to the Dik Van Dykes friend list on myspace - but despite at least one pleading message I have not heard back since.

    692 downloads!

    Maybe he's biding his time for the re-issue - Id' still buy two just to be on the safe side.

    I still hold out hope

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  19. Jeffen, I run the Dik Van Dykes Myspace Page. Just a fan. Mike has never communicated to me. I have communicated with his Ex wife Rene who was one of the DIKVD poptarts. She is quite happy about the myspace page. The posting on your page from one "Dik Van Dyke" sounds legit. Can you contact him through his blog, I am assuming one needs a blogger blog to contact another blog member.

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  20. Just downloaded The Dik Van Dykes for a friend... he's gonna freak out! He had a cassette with this record on it, and some other songs that he's still searching for. Does anyone know who did these: "Loraine Loraine", "Cottage Country Killer", or "Sandra Says...". Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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  21. Jon

    No word back from Dik (could be a faker I s'pose but it seems unlikely from the post) he has a Blogger ID but no site (ooops I thought the MySpace was his.

    Sigh

    Gonna be ripping that tape copy soon.

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  22. Alcolm

    Glad you enjoyed the Diks. I can only guess that the band in question might be the Purple Toads. Maybe...

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  23. I ams who I ams. Tell me where to send you the file, and the music is yers. Dik.

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  24. Perfect.

    You can e-mail the files to me (jeffen69@hotmail.com) or you can upload the folder (when zipped or rar'ed) to http://rapidshare.com/
    and then just post the link to me here.

    P.P.S. If these are unworkable let me know I'll do whatever is necessary!!

    P.S. Thanks for coming!!

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  25. I am so Psyched!
    Now if Dik (Mike) could throw in some "I Love my Shitsu", my musical midlife crisis will be satiated!

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  26. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  27. I have 5 purple toads live tracks, if you want them, just email me

    jonmoyes2@hotmail.com

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  28. I found a source of some old Dik Van Dyke snaps, I will post them on the DIKVD myspace page as soon as I get my greedy hands on them.

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  29. DikVD live tracks here!
    Check out this amazing music archive at
    http://chrwradio.com/
    Documents the London Ontario area music scene
    alcomx, this is where the purple toad tracks came from.
    http://chrwradio.com/lma/
    Here is the Archive homepage... Jeff, this is deep, compilations and studio recordings over 30 years

    pages of note with many MP3s
    http://chrwradio.com/lma/1984/Terminals,%20The%20-%20We%20Killed_Don't%20Yell,%20Buy%20Us%20Beer/terminals2.htm
    http://chrwradio.com/lma/1986/UIC%20-%20Our%20Garage/uic.htm
    http://chrwradio.com/lma/1986/What%20Wave%20-%20Wave%20From%20The%20Grave/ww3.htm
    http://chrwradio.com/lma/1987/What%20Wave%20-%20Wave%20From%20The%20Grave%202/ww4.htm
    http://chrwradio.com/lma/1987/What%20Wave%20-%20Live%20In%20London/wwlive.htm
    http://chrwradio.com/lma/1987/What%20Wave%20-%20Garunge/ww1.htm
    http://chrwradio.com/lma/1988/What%20Wave%20-%20Disgraceland/disgraceland.htm

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  30. Alcom X

    Holy Crap! Thanks so much!

    This sounds great. As soon as I can locate a cover scan I'll do a post.

    You Rule!

    Jonathon

    This has become the best post of all, what with the stuff we've pulled together - thanks for all your work.

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  31. Here're links to the "Waste Mor Vinyl" covers.
    Front Cover
    Back Cover

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  32. Alcolm X said...

    I was able to track down both of the Dik Van Dykes LPs for my friend... so here's a rip of "Waste Mor Vinyl"!

    PS: Thanks for the Purple Toads tip.

    (Thanks again Alcolm I just removed the link to avoid confusion - I added a new one with your artwork and an m3u.

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  33. 8 new photos on the Dik Van Dykes myspace page
    http://www.myspace.com/thedikvandykes
    These were taken by Derek Von Essen
    http://www.myspace.com/thedikvandykes
    Thanks Derek!

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  34. I still have a Deja Voodoo Tshirt! I sold most of my LPs when I moved to Australia 10 years ago!
    I tried downloading Deja Voodoo and DVD but the links just aren't working for me (the download fails half way through, I'm trying to figure it out).
    Thanks for this post though! Fun down memory lane!!

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  35. France

    Glad you enjoyed the post.

    I tried the DVd on megaupload and it came though fine.

    You might want to try again.

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  36. I run the Dik Van Dykes myspace page.
    I am trying to locate "I Love My Shih-Tzu" mp3s.
    Here is some info...the only info.
    http://www.canoe.ca/IndieBands/band1250.html
    Dik,if your are listening,I hear your a busy lawyer now, but is there any way I can get a hold of the I Love My Shih-Tzu mp3s?
    I once had them, but they are lost...

    Cheers

    Jonathan

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  37. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  38. "I Love My Shih-Tzu" was one of Dik's (Mike Johnson of the Dik Van Dykes) bands. They broke up I believe in 2002ish... That's when their web page went offline.

    http://www.canoe.ca/IndieBands/band1250.html

    Cheers
    Jonathan

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  39. I'll send you the I Love My Shih-Tzu mp3s right away. I agree with that comment about Lost in Space sounding like the Dik Van Dykes facing their own demise- I should never have agreed to letting either Cow Pie or Lazlo Come Home (ouch)see the light of day...but I'm only mentioning them because the first song on I Love My Shih Tzu CD was actually the last good DVD song- Too Much Like Fun. It poked fun at Sarah, who talked me into joining her band Sinister Dude Ranch, which I agreed to so long as we could rename it I Love My Shih-Tzu. Thanks Jeffen and Jon.

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  40. Awesome, Mike (Dik)! Yes, send them to Jeffen.

    Thanks

    Jonathan

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  41. Jonathan did you get the first 3 songs. If you did, let me know and I'll send the rest. If not, I need another e-mail address for you.
    Thanks

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  42. Hi Mike,

    I did not receive any mp3s...
    my email is

    jonmoyes2@hotmail.com

    thanks

    Jonathan Moyes

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  43. Dik

    This conversation between me, you, Jonathon and the readers here demonstrates the most decent aspect of this infernal internet age: the direct connection between those who make the music, those who spread the music and those who just listen.

    Thanks for the encouragement and the possibility of MORE music.

    However the files gets to me is great. If you can't e-mail Jonathon, feel free to e-mail me jeffen69@hotmail.com.

    P.S. Do you still have CD's left? I would gladly pay you for one - then I would have a cover to scan as well.

    Jonathon

    Thanks for all your work!

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  44. Good stuff. I remember attending a Deja Voodoo BBQ show in Montreal a million years ago. 8 Bands for $4 and free chicken gumbo. Held in a church basement.
    Ripcordz, Lydia Lunch, EJ Brule, Deja Voodoo, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, and some others...
    Great, fun music.
    BTW, Paul Gott from the Ripcordz is on CJAD 800 Talk Radio today to talk about the Canadiens firing their coach. Who would have thunk?

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  45. I never saw a Bar-B-Q but fortunately I saw lots of the Og bands live.

    Great shows all.

    (Glad to hear Paul Gott's on radio - I could imagine him doing a talk show.)

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  46. I wanted to send you a thank-you e-mail but couldn't find a contact address. Hopefully you'll see this comment!

    Hot damn, thank you so much for this blog. I have only recently been exposed to the Og catologue and have been searching all over the place for more of their records. Your site is a goldmine!

    I didn't think I would ever be able to find the ITCF comps or any of the Jerry Jerry records.

    So, truly, THANK YOU for continuing this blog. I've now subscribed to your RSS feed and can't wait to see what you post next!

    Cheers,
    matt.

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  47. Twitch City

    You're welcome

    I sure do love the obscure Canadiana (and so do you judging by your nick name).

    There is more to come. I post from a few different niches,the Canadian stuff sometimes does well (i.e. this post and never worry I see all my comments) and sometimes (the Sweaters) not so much.

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  48. Psyched about the DVDs. Any friend of the Rezillos is a friend of mine!

    -- Snatzo

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  49. SNATZO
    HOPE YOU FOUND THE COMPARISON FAVOURABLE

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  50. So cool to hear from Snatzo. The Rezillos are back touring in England right now. I would consider pulling the Dik Van Dykes back together if we could ever get the chance to back the Rezillos up....

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  51. DVD
    There;s a show I'd fly half-way round the world to see!

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