Bag- Barf (1998)

Originally 'Superbag' and quickly shortened, Bag was another Amherstburg export. This is Bag's second record 'Barf'. It's a doozy. A pummeling amalgamation of rock, metal, and grunge. I hear Tad, Jesus Lizard, some 'Bleach'. From the desk bassist of Andrew Buckie:

"Barf was our second album, it was recorded in Dan Iovino’s basement. We setup a makeshift 8’ x 8’ room with chipboard, we were experimenting with having a really live room sound and I think it gave the album a distinctive sound, you can notice the early reflections in the guitar sound. We recorded it straight up analog on to 1/2" Ampex 456 with a TEAC 80-8 reel to reel 8-track and then mixed it down to VCR tape. I made some notes below on what I can remember about some of the songs:

Bag- The vocals sound really crunchy because the song was sung through a Boss “Heavy Metal” HM-2 distortion pedal. If you listen closely at the very end after the sample you can hear us laughing our asses of because we hadn't heard the sample before, only Dan had.

Hitting a Cow in the Head with a Sledgehammer Until it's Dead- Apparently this song is about a traumatic experience Dan had while he was a kid.

The Last Song Ever- We had a mix-down party and invited a bunch of friends over. We hid a mic in the room where everyone was partying and that is where we got the sample at the beginning. For the end of that song when we were mixing it down we had a mic recording us smashing beer bottles, I think we broke about 2 cases. When we went back to listen to the results we realized that hadn’t pressed record and had to smash another 2 cases of bottles.

Sloth- This song was never released because we did some crazy mix down of it with laser and space ship sound effects or something like that and weren't happy with it. I dug the reel out a year or two later and mixed it down so we could have a decent copy of it."

Related: Ton, Blastphemy, Blackbarn, etc.

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Why Be Something That You're Not

Windsor and Detroit are forever synonymous, both geographically and musically. Fans of early 80's hardcore from both sides of the border would be wise to pick up last years book by Tony Rettman published by Revelation Records. 'Why Be Something That You're Not' focuses on the American side of the river, but a legendary Windsor venue gets a brief but worthy mention. Hardcore history in our back yard. From the book:

"Sleazy dive bar across the border into Windsor, Ontario infamous for its skillet swinging proprietor and lax attitude towards underage patrons."

-5/23/1981 D.O.A/Necros
-8/2/1981 Minor Threat/Necros/Meatmen
-9/5/1981 the Fix/Meatmen
-10/17/1981 Necros/Negative Approach/Youth Patrol/SA

the Wrestlers- "Plantasia" Demos (1994)

When first approaching people about getting material to post on this blog, my first request was usually the Implants. I'm not gonna kiss their asses too much, but suffice to say I'm excited to bring you unreleased music recorded shortly before they disbanded (by then, renamed 'the Wrestlers'). What we have here is a quick mix by Andrew Buckie of 8-track recordings intended for an unreleased album (presumably titled 'Plantasia' which is embedded in the tracks). Below is a brief history of the band by vocalist Shane Knapp:

"I think we started around 1992. I was about 17? These guys we know were putting on a show at a church, we wanted to play, so we started a band. I used to scream about high school shit. Girls, school buses, etc. I was just discovering death metal, but remember being mostly into stuff like the misfits, red hot chili peppers, descendents, sick of it all, MOD, black flag, etc, because that was what skateboarders listened to then. Anyway, I used to bug Kevin to play faster all the time. To me, every riff he wrote sounded like it was stolen from the first danzig LP. I swear Jamie played a different bass line every time, but it usually worked. Tom was just a solid as fuck drummer and a solid guy, period. I was young and naive. People told me I was a good singer, and I started to believe them. I used to try to "sing" after a while, of course it sounded terrible. We played our second show, and just about every one after that at Jimmy's pub in Amherstburg. People started to show up in droves. I cant help but think that it was only out of small town boredom, but who cares. It was great being able to skate the curbs across the street, then go in and play. Someone told us there was another band called the IMplants, so we changed our name to the wrestlers. LAME! For a while, Kevin used to play our tape at every party, or get together. I hated it, I was so embarrassed and hated the sound of my own voice. I really got sick of, and couldn't stand these songs for years. There were a lot of fights and bullshit; of course it wouldn't last. I'm glad it didn't. The jocks showed up, and beat up my friends. The skinheads came, and beat up my friends. The bikers that were already there didn't really say too much. Here are a few highlights:

-played a frat party, ten minutes in were told that all our equipment will be smashed if we don't stop.
-opened for the murder junkies in Detroit, they didn't show up. the Detroit punkers hated us.
-played Spinners, everyone stood and stared, we got paid 200 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Related: the Implants, Godinaheadlock, the Best, Val Killmore, Booga Nose Funk MC's, etc.

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Contradict- Banging Our Heads Against These Walls Again (2001)

Packaged in a nice little 8.5 x 5.5" zine, this was Contradict's third and final release, following their demo CD and split 7" with thee Outcasts. The music falls somewhere between Frail and Fugazi. Brutally honest, sincere, and self explorative, these fine young fellows really believed what they were singing about and stuck with social justice issues when the band ended and they hit the real world.

Related: Hope in the Wings, Searchingforchin, etc.

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Lennigan- EP (2002)

Harrow area melodic punk. I love and can closely relate to county born bands. They have to dig a little deeper, work a little harder to make it to the ‘big city’ to play shows and make a name for themselves. Heavily influenced by Fat and Epitaph classics, this brief slice of pop punk gold holds up quite nicely compared to most of their contemporaries. Against the pop punk backdrop and occasional metal riff, James’ voice reminds me of Rory from the Impossibles. ‘On a Curb’ is unreal.

Related: James O-L and the Villains, the Sean Connery Super Group.

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Sewing With Nancie- Discography (1998-2002)

Possibly my laziest entry (because it just links to another site), but an essential one nonetheless. Leading up to SWN’s farewell tour, the fine folks at Juicebox records posted their entire discography up for free (donation suggested) download. That includes the following releases: Out for Gary, Lod Rudos, the Same Three Chords, Value Pack, Take a Look at Yourself, Silence is Bliss, and a few B-sides. In case you’re not familiar, Sewing With Nancie started playing pop punk when it was slightly frowned upon within the local punk scene. They stuck with it, and a huge all ages following was their reward. If you were present in the years that followed, their influence was very apparent, and dozens of copycats filled the community centres and high schools of our fair city.

Related: the Reason, Uma.

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(links to juicebox, scroll down and hit the download link)

Monolith- Demo (2009) + Bonus

Fans of Meshuggah, here ya go. And I could be full of shit, but I believe this is our second entry of unreleased music as well. Monolith was a short lived pummeling monster that featured a who’s who of Windsor’s heavy musicians. Tracks 1-3 were featured on the ‘demo 2009’ release, but 4-5 were intended for an unfinished CD and are new to your ears if I’m not mistaken. Thanks to Gary for the contribution.

Related: Royal Dose, Grand Marais, Machines, Shinje, Closed Casket Funeral, Woods of Ypres, Days Fade, Shot Down Stars, False Hopes, etc.

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