When I saw The Dead Milkmen at Toronto’s Diamond Club back in the late 1980s, the floor was a volatile, beautiful mess of colliding subcultures. It was like different species of house flies bumping into one another, wondering what the hell you were doing in the mason jar. You had suburban high school pocket-pen-protector pencil-neck nubile nerds, college radio snobs … Read more
Rating: 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🚬 / 10 (8 Tipped Martini Glasses and a Cigarette) Remember that movie Fantastic Voyage, where a miniaturized submarine gets inserted into a person's bloodstream on a mission to clear a blood clot in the brain? Well, consider yourself in luck: I’m infiltrating your brain with my own fantastic journey with Social Distortion, which goes all the way back … Read more
God loves Nick Saloman, and from the heavens, the expulsion of the beloved archangel fell and spawned Horrorful Heights. A 20-track double-album behemoth. Eighty-eight minutes of musical mayhem. Who does that anymore? nobody. As they edit themselves down to make nice, safe Spotify playlists, Nick just dumps the whole glorious attic on your head like the wicked witch of the … Read more
When Horror dropped last year, it was well worth the privileged price of entering the collected world of The Mekons. I was lucky enough to find their first LP—"The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen"—in a thrift store many blood moons ago. This began my foray into the ever-changing world of The Mekons and their many ever-changing forays into the … Read more
By 1981, the Red Rockers were famously branded "The American Clash" by Lester Bangs -- a tag that carried both the weight of massive expectations and the raw power of a band exploding out of the New Orleans humidity. Decades before they became MTV fixtures with the polished pop hooks of "China," they were fueled by the absolute grit of … Read more
LA’s Art-Punk Pioneers Who Bridged Continents and Genres In 1978, Vivabeat emerged from Los Angeles with a sound that defied easy categorization. As I spoke with Marina and Mick years later, it became clear that this was a band always slightly out of step with the local scene -- East Coast transplants mixing with an Angeleno native, chasing a vision … Read more
50 Years of Chaos: Charlie Harper and the U.K. Subs More than five decades after the first sparks of punk lit up the U.K., Charlie Harper remains one of its most enduring figures. As the driving force behind U.K. Subs, Harper has seen entire scenes rise, fracture, and reinvent themselves while continuing to tour, write, and perform with undiminished spirit. … Read more
Still a Dirty Mess: The Stormtrooper Oral History Before the Sex Pistols swore on television -- or tried to brush it off as "nothing, a rude word" -- and corporate labels commodified safety pins, there was a bar at The Marquee and a damp basement on King's Road. In 1975, Stormtrooper were already cranking the volume and playing rock music … Read more
Never Mind The Bollocks- Sex Pistols feat. Frank Carter Brings 50 Years of Punk To History, Toronto Venue: History, Toronto, ON Date: Monday, September 21, 2026 Support: Panic Shack photo by Christopher D. Controlled Anarchy Whenever a band returns without its original singer, people have an opinion. Everyone has an … Read more
Social Distortion, Descendents, The Chats History (Toronto) – September 14, 2026 The crowd at History showed just how much punk’s demographic has shifted over the years. The room was clearly split: veterans who grew up on Social Distortion and Descendents stood shoulder-to-shoulder with younger kids who got into the genre … Read more
The Boys Ignite Toronto at the Horseshoe Tavern — March 13, 2026 Toronto’s miserable March chill didn’t stand a chance against the sweat, noise, and electricity inside the Horseshoe Tavern as fans packed shoulder to shoulder, awaiting a true punk institution. One voice rang out from the crowd declaring that … Read more
This is by no means a comprehensive list. It is largely compiled from News items, Wikipedia lists and Social Media Posts. Please note some of the additions are songwriters or composers of the songs. R.I.P Read more
Stephen Hamm, a legendary figure in the Vancouver music and arts scene for over three decades, is proud to announce the release of his second single, "Are You Receiving Me?", from his upcoming album Songs of the Future. Fans of Slow, The Evaporators, and Tankhog take note. Stephen's album will … Read more
Phil Marcade sadly passed away-June the 5th/2023 in Paris. I had the fortunate opportunity to interview Philippe recently. Philippe had a great sense of humour and a warm friendly demeanour. Wherever you may be I hope you are jamming with The Sender's much loved guitarist-Wild Bill Thompson. Your memory lives … Read more
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