Radio What Wave Playlist July 7/2016. All Canada Part 2
1. The Smugglers....Canadian Ambassador....from the In The Hall Of Fame CD on Popllama Records from 1991. Vancouver based, The Smugglers were indeed world wide ambassadors for Canada and a more patriotic rock'n'roll band would be difficult to find. Some of you may know lead singer Grant Lawrence, a longtime host for CBC Radio and noted author. His latest project is a book about The Smugglers and there may even be some mention of their adventures here in London Ontario. The Smugglers played here several times, but never got the reaction they deserved and got pretty much every where else. Never could figure that out. Grant was back a few years ago to act as an MC for the Home County Folk Festival and told some stories about some of his dealings with WW back in the day.
2. Young Canadians....I Hate Music....from the No Escape CD, a restrospective of the Young Canadians who were from Vancouver and featured legend Art Bergmann on guitar and vocals. From the late 70's early Van punk scene.
3. Go Four 3....Just Another Day...from their debut 12" from 1985 and also from Vancouver. They played here a couple of times at the Key West and Call The Office released at least one more LP.
4. New Pornographers....4 Blown Speakers...from their Electric Version CD from 2004 and also from Vancouver. This combo has been putting out some really fine pop for many years and tours through this area once in awhile.
5. Rattled Roosters....Got Me Blue....from the Year Of The Rooster CD from 1993 and also from Vancouver. Caught them at least once at Call The Office many years ago and remember them putting on a pretty wild and crazy show.
6. Handsome Ned....Wrong Side Of The Tracks... from the Ballad Of... LP that came out in 1989. This LP is a collection of pretty much everything the Handsome one recorded as he passed in January 1987, way too young. Remember seeing a lot of coverage on City TV when it happened as Ned was a fixture of the country/rockabilly scene in Toronto and was expected to do big things.
7. Chris Houston.....Locusts...from the Elvis Monday Volume 1 CD from 1994, which was a document of a weekly event in Toronto. Many of you will remember Chris as an early and longtime member of The Forgotten Rebels and the author of Surfin' On Heroin. Chris is still active in Hamilton, and released a 7" a couple of years ago that got loads of airplay here at Radio WW.
8. Ray Condo and His Hardrock Goners....This Is The Night....from their second LP, Hot'n'Cold on Pipeline Records from 1988. Another one that passed too early, Ray was a consumate performer and put on some of the greatest rock'n'roll shows that we've ever witnessed! They played here in London at the Key West and Call The Office a couple of times and the first time we saw them at Larry's in Toronto, became instant fans for life! The band formed in Montreal, and later a few of them moved to Vancouver and Ray carried on from there. He was about to embark on a world tour when he passed in 2004.
9. Royal Crowns....Give It To You....from the 32 Miles from Memphis CD from 2000 and based in Toronto. Long time rockabilly drummer Teddy Fury leads this band and they are still active to this day. Caught them at the Mike Star Tribute Show a couple months back and they were Fucking Amazing!! One of the best live bands from around this area!
10. Raised By Wolves....Burn It All Down....from their Hot Blood CD from 2005 and from Vancouver. Named after a Deja Voodoo song, these animals combined rockabilly and garage in a wild and fiery fashion! There's at least 2 7" records in addition to this CD and all are great! Ironically the band broke up to raise kids, as 2 of the members were married and decided to start a family.
11. UIC....Don't Know....from the Witches In Credible CD from the early 90's. Originally from Exeter Ontario and moved to Toronto in the mid 80's, these guys are back together for sporadic shows. A must see band as witnessed at the recent Mike Star Tribute show in Oshawa Ontario!
12. Flying Squad....Fie On You....from Four Whom The Bell Tolls 7" that came free with an issue of WW zine back in 1988. Local biker rock combo that scared many people out of their seats back in the day! They appeared on several WW compilations and released a 7" before calling it a day in the early 90's.
13. Les Sinners....Nice Try....from Pebbles Volume 13 and from Montreal mid 60's. The Gruesomes covered this one, so it only made sense to play....
14. The Gruesomes....I Try.....from Thee Cave Comes Alive on Action Records out of Greece 2004. This LP was a compilation of tracks from some of the WW cassette compilations that came free with WW back from about 1986 to 1994. The Gruesomes were from Montreal and are probably Canada's most known combo from the 80's garagerock years. They released 4 12" records which have all been re-ished by Ricochet Sound in Montreal. There's lots of bonus tracks and cool liner notes.
15. Scarlett Ribbon.....4 In The Morning....from the CTV After 4 compilation LP from the late 60's After 4 was a CTV show that featured some of the long hair combos of the time, some of which are featured on this LP. Scarlett Ribbon was a false name for Quiet Jungle who released at least one 7" under their real name and were also the band behind the kids LP The Story of Snoopy's Christmas (which happens to be on my want list) and possibly several other projects, all released on ARC Records (or Yorkville, which was a part of ARC). This particular LP was one of the very first LP's I bought, probably in 1968, for 50 cents in a cutout bin at the local K Mart store. I bought a number of LP's from the K Mart cutout bin and sure wish I had more money back then to buy more records!
16. The Minstrels....Let Me Fly The Sky....from their Ev'ry Which Way CD from 1992. These guys started in Quebec City and tended to move all over North America for some odd reason. They played Call The Office several times and even released a 12" EP on What Wave Records back in 1989. The timing was off, as people didn't want records then, just CD's and cassettes...
17. Pagliaro....Some Sing Some Dance....from a self titled LP from the mid 70's. A huge star in his native Quebec, but relatively unknown in the rest of Canada except by us record collectors/cool music fans. This song was played on AM radio back in the day and was a breath of fresh air compared to what else aired.
18. Jr Gone Wild..... Old Blue....from the Less Art More Pop LP from 1986 on BYO Records. From Edmonton and came to London several times, playing Key West and Call The Office. Back in their early days, the shows were unpredictible due to massive alcohol consumption, but when they were on, they were just amazing!!! There's a documentary in the works and there might even be some pics of the band playing Key West from back in the day.
19. Jr Gone Wild.... Too Suble For You.... as above. One time we had these guys booked for an early sunday eve show that got a ton of publicity in the London Free Press the day prior. We were just about to head down to the show, got a call from the club asking 'where the hell is the band', the place is packed and they aren't here?'. Into panic mode and was able to find the phone number of someone in Edmonton who worked with the band, who said they were staying in Toronto and he'd try and get in touch with them. A little while later, got a call back and the band was on its way, guess they had been partying and got carried away. The band showed up at the club, all embarrassed and had to set up in front of a packed house and proceeded to tear the place down as they put on one of their better shows! Well worth the wait and aggravation!!
20. David Quinton.....Pictures....from his Bombs and Lullabies CD on Bullseye Records. This is a collection of David's early 80's solo work. Some of you may remember David from his days drumming with The Mods from Toronto, then later on in The Dead Boys and on Stiv Bator's solo recordings. David is still active, drumming for Arson and when The Mods re-unite.
21. The Sweaters...Do The Pop Thing....from the CD of the same name and from the west coast....released a cassette as well.
22. The Diodes....Red Rubber Ball....from their Greatest Hits on Sony Records. Toronto new wave combo which has the honour of being the first Canadian new wave/punk band to release a record in Canada! They released at least 4 LP's and appeared on many compilations back in the day. We had the honour of having The Diodes live on Radio WW when they were in London as part of the Treat Me Like Dirt book release party at Call The Office!
23. Angry Dragons....Got To Be You....from their self titled CD on Transistor 66 Records from 2009. My fave Canadian garage combo from that era and always tons of fun to see live!! Saw them a few times here in London, at Black Shire Pub, Call The Office and live at Grooves Records!
24. Poisoned Aeros.....TRex.....from the Turbulance CD from 2003 and from Hamilton Ontario. One of the few glam rock combos from that era and caught them when they opened for Sylvain Sylvain at Call The Office a number of years back.
25. The Hippies....Can Teens....from the compilation cassette Slippery's Club Hits that came with What Wave 24 and from London Ontario.....had to fade this out as we ran out of time...
Thanx for all the phone calls,emails, facebook messages and Heys!!! Back again next week with more noise to annoy.
We've got the Pink Cadillac Scat Cats doing a live to air on July 21st here on Radio WW....the night before their big show for drummer Nick's birthday bash!
Here's a link to the archived show:
https://chrwradio.ca/program/radio-what-wave
