Lost Venues in Southern Ontario - THE JCC

Barux Haba!! Welcome to another installment of “Lost Venues” - it’s been over a year, but not to worry there are plenty of defunct venues not just in Toronto but all surrounding areas and I’m rededicated to bringing you, the reader, a little history lesson of Toronto and Southern Ontario hardcore.

In the centre of downtown Toronto, Bloor and Spadina, is the Miles Nadal Community Centre. Prior to the official name change it was simply known as the Jewish Community Centre or the JCC. For a short period of time (roughly two years I think – it seemed a lot longer) the majority of shows in Toronto were held here. Pretty much every touring band that might not have been big enough to draw at a bar played here. Like I said, I’m pretty sure there was only shows here from around 2000 to 2002 and the list of bands is pretty impressive. Saves the Day (LOVE Saves the Day), Fastbreak, The Swarm, Every Time I Die, 100 Demons, A Death for Every Sin, Blood Has Been Shed, No Warning ... and I'm just warming up!!

One of the best highlights of the JCC was during 100 Demons there was some drunk douchebag moshing like a … well, like a drunk douchebag. The song was done but this guy kept flailing around like an idiot and the “pit” was wide open except for Rod Full Contact who was taking a breather in between songs. So this guy stumbles into Rod from behind and I’m not sure if he knew this was the dude who ran into him, but regardless he proceeds to without even checking (you know, shoot first ask questions later) turn around and completely flatten him with a right cross. It was a beautiful sight to behold (because I was so fucking edge) and RIGHT on cue Sean Martin starts shredding “Eye of the Tiger”. You can’t write that shit!!!

So there you go, the JCC, a short lived mainstay in Toronto Hardcore, you can go there now and mosh in the Second Cup.

EDITOR’S SIDENOTE: I could not find a pic of a show here for the life of me, or a flyer. If you have one send it my way and I’ll update the picture.

Afternoon Delight

Drove down to Montreal last weekend to visit my sister who was back from the oil fields in Alberta.
Saturday night highlights included a 3hr karaoke session which can be found on youtube. For all you Arrested Development fans I can now confirm that is in fact extremely creepy and awkward singing "Afternoon Delight" just in the same room as a family member. Despite this, one other hightlight was an increadible discovery when we broke into a David Bowie song (forgot the name) ANYWAYS the star of this particular ditty was none other than ANDY BERMAN!!! Who you might ask is Andy Berman? None other than Kevin Arnold's high school buddy (probably #3 or 4 on the depth chart - Winnie #1, Paul #2, #3 Randy Mitchell/Doug Porter) CHUCK COLEMAN! WOW I was asking myself - how did this guy go from Hollywood A-List to karaoke videos?! I'd like to think the director was his grade school buddy who was looking for his "Big Break" in the film industry and needed a big star to make is video HOT and he did it as a favour.

So as you can see in the video, Andy is trying his best to smooth a shortie in the park, but maaaaaaan - she's having none of it! Ol' Andy will once again be going home alone. I bet this video is the farthest thing from his real life and he really had to pour on some of his finest acting!
So there you go. This is my personal blog now and I will fill it with dumb shit on a weekly basis.

Hardcore Dream Team GOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Well this one was a long time in the making.

We are happy to announce that the vinyl version of the To The Lions debut will be released thru Specimen 32 Records.

We met Tim Drew a few years ago in good ol London Ontario and have stayed in contact with him ever since. Tim is the kind of guy who believes in Hardcore with a passion. Someone who is willing to lose it all for the sake of the music and someone who respects it like no other.

We can be no happier then to have Goodfellow Records release the CD and Specimen 32 release the vinyl.

We will have solid release dates for June 07 as well as cover art and track listing very soon.

This is a very exciting time for us old men.

We still get stoked to no end over this stuff.

Renewed faith

So over the last few months my faith in the hardcore scene had been wavering a little under the pressure of the myspace millions (minions?) and seeing and hearing all the bullshit that they bring to shows these days. I go through this every once in a while, it lasted for three years once. But all it usually takes is one little reminder of why I love this music so much and I am back into it 100%. This past week I had three little reminders, and this could be pretty long, so go get a drink now.

First was hanging out with Chris Logan last Friday. One of the first things I thought when starting this band was, it would be cool to just get out and play a bunch of shows again, and then maybe record something. The first and only label I ever thought about putting it out was Goodfellow records. I've been friends with Chris since the mid/early 90's when Chokehold were the only band that mattered, and we played together in a band called 78 Days for a couple of years (and believe it or not we were signed to Trustkill Records, but good luck finding that record in their catalog). We've been talking about doing this To The Lions record for almost a year now, and it's taken us a while to get our shit together, but we sent Chris an unmixed track last week, and he instantly replied that he was "moshing right now" in his office. So now that we've convinced Chris we're actually going to finish the record, it will be officially be coming out in June 2007, exact date TBA. But the thing that really inspired was when he said "I'd probably be doing a lot better with the label if I put out shit I didn't like", but through almost 50 releases he hasn't done that, though I'm sure he gets hundreds of mascara smeared demos a month, and I'm honoured to be on that list of bands he does like. And he's older than me, and don't forget it ;)

The other things both happened at the show we played this wednesday in Burlington with Another Breath, Lions, The Kill Decibel and Eating Glass.

I can't say enough good about Another Breath. They were probably the best live band I've seen in the last couple of years, and just great all around guys. There ARE still cool, intelligent people in the scene, who don't only care about myspace, and "siq" mosh (speaking of sick mosh, apparently some young lady did actually barf on herself and get thrown out, but I must have missed it). And as always Steve and The Kill Decibel were rad, and still the best band in the area. And after a little misunderstanding being cleared up, Eating Glass are alright after all ;). They played a great first show and I look forward to seeing them again. Thanks Jose.

The last thing could have made me feel really old, but it actually did the opposite. Talking to a kid at the show about it being March Break for highschool kids, I said something like "yeah I remember highschool... that was about 16 years ago" and apparently he was only 15 as he proceeded to freak the fuck out. But that's right, hardcore has been my life for the last 19 years.

And buy this record, it's so damn good.

An ode to Joe Davis

We played a sweet show at the Formac with Lions, Another Breath, The Kill Decibel and Eating Glass. Quote of the night as we were setting up and I was in the bathroom washing my hands:
*kid runs into washroom*
Kid - "Daryl! Daryl! Oh man you have to see this!! You gotta see these guys - THEY'RE LIKE THIRTY YEARS OLD!!!! HAHAHA"

GOODFELLOWS

Ok so I’ve been told I have a lot of making up to do for that last post, which, seriously, I SAW HAPPEN TO SOMEONE ELSE. Anyways, trying to keep this blog bloggin’ the other day Matt Jones and myself met up with our buddy Chris Logan for some delicious Lebanese food. But there was more than falafels on the menu (Oooooooooooo-zing! Slam-dunk! Seven points!), we were meeting up to discuss our upcoming full length which we are super stoked to say officially is going to be on Goodfellow Records. We’ve been lucky to either have seen Chokehold, played in bands with Chris or just hang out with an all around awesome dude. This guy knows what’s up and I will once again reiterate (using the word stoked) how stoked we all are to be putting this record out with someone who pretty much has the same view on hardcore as we do – you know, myspace friends, black t-shirts, promo shots, magazine profiles – all things punk and hardcore!
This shit be droppin’ June 07 so look for it at all major retailers!