The Listening Club - 2nd July 2023

Greetings,

Hope you're all doing good. Yeah, @kleptones back again from the Somerset fields, mostly in one piece, and with a multitude of experiences to add to the "did we really?" bank. The Big G's not for everyone, but for me, as u kno, the combination of music, art, booze, food, mates and loons is the best in the world. So feeling decidedly over-fortified, on y va we go...

Last Sunday, whilst we were pondering the age old question, "Elton John or Queens Of The Stone Age, or maybe neither?", y'all were festivising on your own, in the shape of the traditional #SummerVortex, bringing together some fine live performaces. Many thanks to @saucer for gathering and assembling, @JimMcCauley for doing the do, and everyone who chipped in a tune or two. Sounded like a fine selection to these ears.

Looking further back, in matters of regularly scheduled programming, we see @EastVanHalen clutching the frisb with this to say by way of introduction to tonight's pick...

“So, what was punk like in Vancouver?”

Found myself feeling weirdly stumped by that question when I was sojourning Chez Kleptones this past spring, trying to think of Vancouver bands that had made it across the pond that someone around my age might remember. My very first LC selection Pointed Sticks (maybe not exactly a punk band, depending on where you land in the running “pop-punk: pop, or punk?” debate) signed to Stiff Records, suffered a disastrous studio escapade with Police producer Nigel Gray, came home and broke up. D.O.A., which arguably originated the “hardcore” subgenre, has been active since the 1970s and still tours with original singer Joe Keithley. Vancouver Subhumans and UK Subhumans are still the topic of an occasional friendly “our Subhumans were better, fuck you” pissing match. 

But ultimately the local-ish punk band that made the biggest impact in the UK and Europe isn’t from Vancouver: they came from just across the Georgia Strait, in BC’s capital city of Victoria. Formed initially by two brothers as a duo on drums and bass, they released an EP, added a guitar player, and turned into a funk-punk-thrash powerhouse. They played Vancouver all the time - I saw them as a two-piece, a three-piece, and a four-piece (including a surprisingly successful gig with two drummers). They were here so often that “oh, [Mystery Artist] again” was a running joke in the early-80s punk scene - and the last time I saw them, not long before they finally packed it in in 2016, a bunch of us remembered that joke and laughed about what self-satisfied dumbasses we’d been.

This is their fourth album, recorded as a three-piece; on guitars is current Amsterdam resident Andy Kerr. A lot of people think it’s their best. My two favourite tracks are 9 and 10. 

This is louuuuuuud, but the singing isn’t shouty, so everyone who wasn’t huge on Fucked Up might still be down with this. For #drinkingclub, a PunkRauch beer (if you don’t already know who the mystery artist is and you look that up, it’ll give it away). And if anyone comes to visit BC, we should go on a field trip to the Wildwood in Powell River (ditto).

Enjoy!

Right then, download's here, stream's below:

See you 20:00 BST (GMT+1) tonight.