This was a special early show, starting at 3:30PM until 6PM on Thursday Dec 30/2010 and is the beginning of The Cedar Lounge Special. The Cedar Lounge was London Ontario's first exclusive punk/new wave/whatever club and ran from late 1977 until May 1/1982. This series will feature ONLY bands that played at The Cedar Lounge...
1. Uranus....Gilligan's Island...from the You're So Square LP 1980 on Trilogy. If it wasn't for Uranus, and their insistence on playing at The Cedar Lounge (then called The Blue Boot Hotel) London would not have had the music scene it had back in the late 70's/early 80's. If it wasn't for Uranus, i wouldn't be the music geek that i am today....so you can blame Uranus, for this and just about anything else you want to!
2. Uranus... '53 Buick....from their first and only 7" EP, it's pictured above, top RH corner.
3. Uranus...You're So Square...yep, this was a hit on AM radio across Canada! Our hometown boys travel across Canada and even appear on Terry David Mulligan's TV show from Vancouver! But things aren't all rosy, the boys realize that they're getting shafted something fierce and there's no money coming in....travelling across Canada and having to stay at campgrounds sure ain't the big time!
4. Uranus...Lonesome Train...from the You're So Square LP...when i heard these guys play this song, and other Johnny Burnette and the Rock'n'Roll Trio songs live at The Cedar, it changed my whole appreciation of live bands. Here's a band that actually know the songs that i'm digging at home and play them live...usually when we went to see live bands back in the late 70's it was all Arrowshit, Led Shittelen, Pink Shit, and other shit covers....Thank You Uranus!!
5. The Demics...New York City...from the Talk's Cheap EP...Frank from Uranus was able to convince the owner of The Cedar to let The Demics play live...don't let that door hit you on the way in as the crazies have taken over and there's no looking back! Beer, beans, loud music and a whole lotta fun as the world will never be the same again. Another reason to thank Uranus.
6. The Demics... 400 Blows...from the New York City CD on OPM Records...recorded live at The Cedar Lounge.
7. The Demics... Talk's Cheap...from the Domestic Animals cassette. This was the 1st cassette of all local bands issued. The people that put it together (Peter Moore and Gerry Collins) didn't bother talking to the bands, or even tell them that it was going to come out. It was a total surprise to most of the bands! Hence a 2nd cassette called Animals Fight Back (compiled by Chris Richards of The Generics) was released with all of the band's involved approval. The way things should be done! And we'll be playing The Generics in a later part of this series.
8. The Demics...Oh Well...from the above mentioned Animals Fight Back CD.
9. The Regulators...That's Right, Nothing's Left....from their only 7". Yep, the doors have been opened and there's new bands forming and there's actually a viable scene in sleepy London Ontario. The single came out in 1979 on Ready Records.
10. The Regulators...What's In The City...from the Animals Fight Back cassette. It's actually the flip side of the above 7" but you try and flip over a 7" without stopping while you're on live radio...did i mention that this whole show was done live on air? Not pre-recorded or done on a laptop...this is the real deal with vinyl and CD's...hence the usual Radio WW fuckups that we do every week! It wouldn't be a RWW without a fuckup or 3!
11. Teenage Head...Picture My Face... recorded live at The Spoke (fall 1980, sometimes this boot floats around as Live At The Spoke And Rimjob) and broadcast over the airwaves of CHRW with profanities and all. Since it was students (and the students guests only) that were allowed to get into this gig, i stayed home and taped it from the airwaves live on CHRW. Industrious little bastard with a lot of forthought wasn't i? And thanx to Andy Butler of the 905's for transferring the original cassette to CD for me a coupla years ago! Yes, this is Teenage Head in their glory, David Bendith is on guitar as Gord Lewis was involved in a serious car accident prior to this gig. Frankie describes the dressing rooms of The Cedar Lounge to a tee as this song starts out. Teenage Head used to regularly pack The Cedar Lounge and put on KILLER shows! From Hamilton Ontario, but you already know that if you're read the book 'Treat Me Like Dirt' by Liz Worth...more about this book later, so stay tuned.
12. Teenage Head...Tearing Me Apart... from their first single.
13. Teenage Head...Top Down...2nd version, recorded in 1978 and released as a single. One of my all time fave records from this era as TH get those killer Beach Boy like harmonies down so perfect! And the car sounds...Fucking amazing!!
14. Teenage Head...Kissing The Carpet...again live at The Spoke Fall 1980. They give the call out to CHRW and Nick makes the comment along the lines of 'if they haven't cut us off the air by now' that is just so perfect! Dunno how this ever got on the air...only Frankie would know what it's like to get boned up the ass by Elvis Costello who according to Frankie, 'is hung like the heater hose on a Mack Truck!!!' A little too much information there Frankie...LOL....
15. Crash 80's....Nowhere To Hide...from the Domestic Animals cassette..singer Pete Tangredi was later in Suffer Machine and presently The Cool Mothers. A little soul, funk and art mixed with punk is a good thing!
16. Crash 80's...Waiting For The Heat....from their only 7"...London band.
17. The Sinners...Some Enchanted Evening...from the Animals Fight Back cassette. Another local band who played just about anywhere and everywhere in London. Featured Paul Harlow (sometimes used other surnames) who later went onto Spiral Scratch and then Crawling Kingsnakes. We'll be spinning some Spiral Scratch in a later show.
18. The Sinners...No Brains Required...had to use the version from Punk History Canada CD that came out a coupla years back...all Canpunk from 1977 to 1982. This was also released on a 7" but mine has gone missing....if anyone has a spare copy please let me know.
19. NFG...Fuck Your Mother Later...from the Animals Fight Back cassette....Not For Girls, Non-Functioning Gear, No Fucking Good....take your choice but when these guys started out they were Fucking Amazing!! Bassist Bob had this really long hair that would fly around while he was playing and jumping up and down and get tangled in the strings of his bass. Drummer Pete had one of the cheapest drum kits around and it would constantly be falling to bits and pieces as he pummelled the living bejusus out of it. Singer Steven R Stunning would show you what was between his legs whether you wanted to see it or not and guitarist Markii Burnaway, ever so coy, came out of the closet with his drag queen persona...a sight and sound to behold this NFG!! You had to see it to believe it, they were that fucking good! There's an interview i did with them a few years back that appeared in the Greek fanzine Rumbleskunk (it's in the picture above).
20. NFG...At The Boot...from their 12", this is the anthem dedicated to The Cedar Lounge (formerly called The Blue Boot, hence the title) and recorded live, fall 1980 at The Cedar Lounge.
21. NFG...HiJack Victim...from the above 12', but also released on a Killed By Death compilation LP, #10 to be exact. Possibly the only London band to be on one of these comps were compiled by the collectors of late 70's/early 80's punk records. Not only that, but this is one of my fave songs from back then...just listen to those lyrics next time you hop a plane bound for Lauderdale!
22. NFG...Media Junkie...from the Punk History CD...by this time, NFG had become 63 Monroe, then First Date and then back to 63 Monroe. Make sense? Didn't think so, marketing was certainly not high priority to these guys. Maybe that's why singer Steven R Stunning didn't win when he campaigned for mayor for the city of London. Instead we got that bitch who hated gays!
23. 63 Monroe....Weekend Punx...from the Stinkin' Out The Joint LP...the rhythm section has left and now we've got ex-Verge members Pete Dekoker and Jeff Rooth (RIP) as members. In 2002, CHRW manager Mario Circelli did a documentary on the London punk scene and called it Stinkin' Out The Joint. Check youtube for that one, well worth checking out if you're a fan of the late 70's London punk scene. Oh, more trivia, this lineup of 63 Monroe played CBGB's in NYC!
24. Hot House...Burn It Down...from the LP of the same name....a budget metal band that played The Cedar fairly regularly and billed themselves as aggressive rock (or something along those lines). Bob the drummer was sometime sound guy at The Cedar and bassist Dick Demmery appeared in many other bands including a late version of Flying Squad.
25. Soma...Mr Mill...from the Animals Fight Back cassette...saw them a coupla times, but can't remember much.
26. Mettle...5/4...from the Domestic Animals cassette and was the brainchild of former Demic Rob Brent who wanted to go in an art direction. They did release a 12" which i sold years ago.
27. Enemas...Joe Wyatt...from the Animals Fight Back cassette..these guys were from Guelph (and did a song called Picture Yourself at Guelph, a song about not really fitting in...what punk did?) Ontario and featured NFG's Pete Lamberts brother on bass.... I remember really liking these guys back in the time.
28. The Zellots...Let's Play House...from a 1979 demo when the band was based in Vancouver. Chris and Jane, two London friends, both moved to Vancouver, unaware that the other did, and they ended up living within a couple of blocks of each other. Formed an all girl band with Holly and started playing in Vancouver opening for DOA, Subhumans, Pointed Sticks (all 3 of these bands will be featured in a later show in this series as they all played The Cedar Lounge) and others. Jane and Chirs moved back to London, Cathy Destin took over vocals and they played out lots around London. One of those bands that coulda and shoulda...they opened for John Cale at Fryfogles and he wanted to take them to the UK and open for him....instead they break up.Typical thing to do for a London band.
29. The Zellots...On The Dole...as above, some great lyrics on this one...listen carefully!
30. The Zellots...Blades...from the compilation CD called You Only Get One Shot at The Big Time on Wizzard in Vinyl from Japan. This is one of the Emac Studio demos and everyone involved had no idea that this CD was coming out. A copy arrived in the mail for me one day, opened it up and recognized one of my pictures of The Zellots from 1980 taken in front of Flamingos Hair Salon, Dundas St near Adelaide (see above)! Yep, there's a whole buncha those pics inside the booklet that comes with the CD and some of these pics have appeared on facebook. The compiler of the CD, Keith Grave, an old buddy from the What Wave zine days, sent me a copy as it had my pics in it and asked me to try and get in touch with the band. At the time, i wasn't able to, but since then, contact has been made....a possible Rave Up vinyl LP may be next!
31. Simply Saucer...I Can Change My Mind...from the 7" on Pig Records from 1978...shout out to our pal Gary Pig Gold at this point!! Yep, SS played The Cedar Lounge 5/16/79 to 5/19/79, a 3 day visit that singer Edgar Breau recalls very little about...too many years and beers, or something along those lines was what he said to me when we had him on Radio WW about 1.5 years ago!
32. Simply Saucer...Bullet Proof...from the Cyborgs Revisited LP....this has the 'Treat Me Like Dirt' chorus on it as this is the beginning of out Treat Me Like Dirt portion of the show. All of the following bands are featured in Liz Worth's Treat Me Like Dirt book...you can get a copy from the publisher, Ralph Alfonso when he comes to the London Record Show this winter. That's him in the pic above, he's a nice guy and real easy to talk to. Thanx to our pal Bruce Mole Mowat for having the fortitude to release this record! One of the greatest records to ever come out of Canada.
33. Simply Saucer....Simply Saucer Story....from a CD called Saucerland that lead singer Edgar gave me last time we had him on Radio WW for an interview....a rock'n'roll droog indeed!
34. The Diodes...Red Rubber Ball... from a 7" from 1977. The first Canadian punk band to release a record on a major label!! They played The Cedar a few times and also have the distinction of being the first ever punk band to play here in London...read Treat Me Like Dirt for the details!
35. The Diodes...Child Star...from their greatest hits CD...The Diodes played Call The Office here in London this past June, you shoulda been there, it was an amazing and loud show! See the poster for the gig above
36. The Diodes...Tennis Again...from the above CD.
37. The Viletones...Screaming Fist...from one of their 7"'s. They only played The Cedar once as they destroyed the place and weren't allowed back. Later on they came back to London, this time at the Embassy Hotel.
38. The Viletones...Possibilities...from the A Taste Of Honey CD on OPM Records...mixed by Peter Moore, one of the 2 individuals responsible for the Domestic Animals cassette release.
39. The Viletones...A Sign Of The Times...from the What If Feels Like To Kill CD...this is from around 1977 and there's some great songs on this one, this almost feels like powerpop!
40. The Viletones...Swastika Girl...from A Taste Of Honey CD...read the book for the full story with all of the grimy details that you really didn't want to know...or maybe you did.
At this point, there was an hour of documentaries scheduled, so i chilled out, drank some Gold Keg and got ready for the next portion of the show. And that will be in a future blog...time permitting.
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