THE NEW BREED

 Without a doubt, Halifax rockers The New Breed were one of the scene’s most prolific bands.

Over the span of two demos, one 7” EP, one CD EP and two full-length CD’s, they evolved from scrappy, no-frills punk rock to an expansive sound that added elements of folk, mod, indie and early rock’n’roll. They also became one of the city’s most formidable live acts, with their St Partick’s Day shows being particular highlights. 

The following is an interview with two of their key songwriters and long-serving members, bassist Brian Whalen and guitarist Dave Robertson.

Interview by Ian Dares

Live at Cafe Ole

1) How did The New Breed get started and what was your original line-up?

[BRIAN] Started towards the end of 1996. Spur of the moment, I suppose. A jam turns into two jams, then you find yourself on stage at Cafe Ole, as was the style at the time (ed. note – along with wearing an onion on your belt). Original lineup was: Jonny Stevens - vocals, Me - bass, Ryan (last name unknown) - guitar, Chris Meagher - drums.

[DAVE] I came in as a replacement for Ryan on guitar, a couple months after the band started jamming. They had not played any shows or anything by this point. Brian asked me if I wanted to play, I told him that I’d give it a shot. He & I sat down a few times, going over the few songs they had so far and off I went to “try out.” I kept showing up and nobody ever told me leave. The terrible band name was chosen before I arrived by the way...hahaha!

2) On your first demo, you guys had elements of 80’s hardcore and more aggro-style street punk. By the second demo, you seemed to be moving toward a more traditionally anthemic and rootsy sound. Was this a conscious choice?

[BRIAN] Not at all. You tend to gravitate towards what works for that band. I love old hardcore but it just didn't click with us.

[DAVE] That first demo was such a hot mess of songs and styles to be honest. I’m glad there are very few of those out there. By 1998, we had definitely grown as players and songwriters and the more consistent sound of the songs on the 2nd demo tape reflected that. The New Breed was essentially the first band for all of us - and the first for Chris playing drums - so we were all learning how to play and write songs as we went. We just ended up playing what sounded best for us. You’d almost never know it was the same band between the 2 demos that were released only a year apart.

3) You got to release a 4-song 7”, Blue Collar Blues, through the local label Subprofit Records. What was that experience like and how do you feel about that record now?

[DAVE] So, we had a good friend named Ian Dares (ed. note – aw, shucks). He asked us if we wanted to do a live set on his Saturday evening radio show, 7200 Sloppy Seconds, on CKDU 97.5FM. We said “Fuck yeah, that’ll be fun. Lets do it.” Shortly there after, late one Saturday evening, we were humping all our gear up the back stairs of the Dalhousie SUB building to the top floor to the radio station. We set up, had sort of a sound check, with various microphones set up around the main control room. We played some new songs that we had been working on. I’m not even sure if we had played all of them live or not yet at that point. It was a good time.

Couple days later Richard got in contact and asked if we wanted to do a 7” EP. We were like: “Us? You’re sure?” Richard said he liked the newer songs, wanted us to record them and he'd release them. So shortly after that we were in the studio, during the same time as The Wankin Family were recording their album, and we recorded 5 songs, 4 of which became the Blue Collar Blues EP. The 5th song was “The Times” which had appeared on the 2nd demo tape and has never been released. All in all, it was a great experience for me, personally.

Somehow a vinyl release always seems more permanent. It’s the only real release with what became the original band lineup of Jonny, Brian, myself and Chris playing.

[BRIAN] That one came together pretty quickly. I guess Richard liked what we were doing and offered to put it out. Experience was great; Richard did a lot for the Halifax scene. What punk band doesn't dream of putting out a 7"?

[DAVE| Richard is such a great guy. Not only for giving us the opportunity to put out our first real release, just in general. Without Richard the Halifax scene in the 90’s, would have been a lot different. There is a dude that should get interviewed sometime.

4) You had the opportunity to put out your next release, Day To Day, on Blind Beggar Records. What was it like to work with them? Looking back at that album now, would it be accurate to say that it was a transitional period for The New Breed?

[DAVE] “Difficult” would be how to describe working with Blind Beggar, if my memory serves me correctly. I didn't have to deal with them really, that fell more toward Brian & Jonny.

[BRIAN] Beyond trading some emails, we honestly had little contact before and after with Blind Beggar. They were a pain in the ass to work with.

[DAVE] Most of those songs were ones we had written once Chris had left the band and Alec replaced him on drums. Alec was a stronger, more comfortable and established drummer, as he had played in a number of bands before joining us. The songs changed with his playing, influence and song input.

[BRIAN] Transition was the constant thread through our history. Luckily, for the better, I think.

5) Lionel Stanley is on the Day To Day CD cover but did he actually appear on it?

[BRIAN] He did not. To say I'm jealous is an understatement.

[DAVE] I believe he is listed as not played on the CD liner notes. It’s been a long time since I’ve dug that out. So I could be mistaken as well. But, Lionel had joined the band, just as we were finishing up recording/mixing of that album. Sadly, that’s only me playing on that one and I don’t know if Lionel could have made that one any better. Overall, I’ve always found that album kinda “meh.”

Live at The Attic

6) The Port City Rebels album was released through Thorp Records. Were you looking to specifically work with another label after Blind Beggar? How did you end up with them?

[BRIAN] Definitely wasn't keen on more with Blind Beggar. I don't think they were happy with the record and I can't blame them a bit. It stinks for the most part. As for Thorp, I believe we started with them releasing Port City Rebels in the States, as it was originally on Longshot Records in Canada. Great guys, nothing but good things to say about them.

[DAVE] We really weren’t happy with Blind Beggar and we all knew we’d never put out anything with them again. The distribution wasn’t great at all and if I remember correctly, it was even hard for us to even get copies of the CD from them for us to sell at shows. We actually ended up on Thorp Records the old fashioned way, I guess. We recorded the album, then we mailed out burned CD’s to record labels, seeing if they were interested in putting it out for us. Lots of rejection letters. Luckily, Thorp responded, and a contract of some sorts was done up and it got released. The final album (Off The Braten Path) was released by them as well. We joined Thorp just as they were a growing, up-and-coming label. Until that point they were mainly a hardcore label. Andy & Duane from Thorp were great guys.

7) Port City Rebels showcases a large step forward both stylistically and artistically. Was your shift in sound purposeful and what would you attribute to the band’s maturity? (Ed. note – Anybody that knows these guys understands that I only use the word “maturity” to describe their music.)

[BRIAN] None of the evolutions in sounds were conscious at all. We just played together for a long time. Most people are smart enough to let their shitty first bands fade away with no record and start new ones. For some reason we just kept going; so you get a bunch of recordings that sound like different bands.

[DAVE] The songs were more polished and just better overall than anything we had done previously. We were still growing musically up until that point. With just me previously at the helm of the guitar playing, there was only so far the songs could go. Lionel added new ideas and talent that we used to expand our song writing. We also played and practiced a lot between those two albums. Really, it was the foundation what became our sound, once we became a five piece and the writing and playing did mature.

[BRIAN] As for maturity, that Dal interviewer probably summed it up best: "Interviewing this

band was like interviewing Beavis and Butthead."

Live at The Seahorse on Argyle St

8) You guys did some touring for both Day To Day and Port City Rebels. What were those tours like? Any particular highlights?

[DAVE] Lots of laughs, high jinx, drinking, boredom, and getting on everyone’s nerves at some point. We also met lots of cool people, saw some great bands and terrible ones as well. We played some shows with The Class Assassins from Toronto; we always had fun shows with those guys. We also got introduced to Lemmy from Mötörhead at a private after hours party we got invited too by the club owner. Sleeping in the van and waking up with it snowing. Lionel walking down the street in St. Catherines in only a towel and sun glasses (which of course one of those things went missing). Crazy fun shows in St John’s, where at one point it seemed to be raining glass and beer, from people flying around. Or a sketchy show in Connecticut where we were playing with Blitz and riot police with dogs barged in - for something that was happening outside the venue - and shut down the show. (Blitz were on stage setting up. They never played)

[BRIAN] Lots of different experiences. Forget most, remember some. Mostly playing to very small crowds in various small towns, much boredom, and living on an extremely tight budget. Met a ton of great people, many of whom were kind enough to offer a couch or floor for the evening. Lots of laughs and funny stories. I mean who wouldn't want to play music with their best friends night after night and be away from their soul crushing jobs for awhile? Highlights for me were probably the shows with Class Assassins. Love those dudes! Playing with Blitz in Connecticut and only seeing them tune up before a riot broke out was definitely THE lowlight.

9) Your final release, Off The Beaten Path, featured a video for “Streets Of Gold.” What was it like to film that and be able to work with John Dunsworth?

[BRIAN] Boring, tedious and phony was my experience, can't speak for anyone else. John Dunsworth was the only highlight; he was a crack-up and a lovely human being. I've no doubt that anyone that knew him or worked with him would say the same.

[DAVE] John Dunsworth was such a nice dude. It was very generous of him to take the time to do the shooting of our video. I’d like to think he had fun basically doing what he wanted. I was only able to be there for a few days; the stage shots of us playing, of course, and the bowling scene. (We played many games that day.) We received a FACTOR grant to make it and that was the only way it was possible for it to be made.

10) The New Breed called it quits not too long after the release of Off The Beaten Path. On Jonny’s AllMusic page, it states that “(f)eeling constrained by the New Breed's street punk image and writing more overtly folk-influenced songs, Stevens broke up the New Breed in 2005 to embark on a solo career.” Does this accurately describe how the band ended? Do you regret not continuing?

[BRIAN] Well that's his perspective, I guess. Let it never be said that I impeded anyone's career with my street punk image.

[DAVE] I feel this album is the strongest material that we ever did. There were, in fact, three extra songs we recorded at the end of that session. We didn’t put them on the album because they were going to be used for an EP but they were lost due to a hard drive failure. I never did get to hear them. No, we never got to hit the road for a few weeks to tour behind it. Having the CD released so late in the year didn't help. The last listed "Last Show"; I have from the old web site files was on August 27, 2005 at The Seahorse Tavern – with The Sinkin' Ships. I'd say shortly after that, Jonny made his final decision to leave in late 2005. He really just was losing interest in what we were doing over those final few months in 2005 and wanted to focus on his new solo band that he had started.

[BRIAN] Most people don't know that we continued on for a year after with the remaining four of us, we just never found a permanent singer. Much rawer material - definitely another transition and a very tight band.

[DAVE] We did keep writing new material; just practice recordings exist of some of the tunes. It was a slight change again, the songs were a bit “heavier” shall we say? We did try briefly to get a replacement vocalist early on. A couple of people came in to try out on some of the new stuff we were doing but nothing became of it. So, after almost a year, as a 4 piece instrumental punk band jamming a couple times a month, we called it quits some time in 2006. The only regrets for me: I really would have liked to hear what the new songs we had been working on would have turned into, if they had been fully developed into another album. Also, we never got to play an “official last show.” We just kind of disappeared.

Live at The Seahorse

12) Finally, would you say that “Erica Wilson Attacks” is The New Breed’s greatest artistic achievement?

[DAVE] I have no idea to this day who Erica Wilson was - or is - and exactly what it is she attacked to inspire that classic song.

[BRIAN] Can't say we ever topped that one. If Ms. Wilson only knew how much her spirit embiggened such a small band.

DOWNLOAD MP3s of everything but the 1st demo: HERE

Demo 2

Blue Collar Blues 7"

Day To Day CD

Port City Rebels CD

Off The Beaten Path CD

MADHAT

Madhat were a pop punk band from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia from the early 1990's. We sat down with singer/guitarist Kirk Comstock and had an in-depth discussion about life. And by that I mean I sent him a couple questions on Facebook and he answered them. In any case...read about MADHAT!! MP3 Discography at the end! 

When did the band start and who was in it?

Technically Madhat started in 1988 under the name "Smash". Then became "Downfall" and then finally settled as "Madhat" around 1992. The members at that point were Phil Zwicker (Guitar), Hughie Morris (Bass), Jordi Comstock (Drums) and me Kirk Comstock (vocals & rhythm Guitar).

What was happening on the South Shore music wise at the time?

At the time there wasn't really a music scene on the South Shore. We started playing the local bars with special papers at age 11 and rented out halls and put on our own all ages shows. Then Nirvana and Sloan happened. At that point all ages clubs popped up and we could tour all over Nova Scotia.

When did you first start playing in Halifax?
Were you able to tour outside the province at all?

We first started playing Halifax in the Cafe Ole and didn't really fit perfectly with any of the genres. We would play with bands like "Deep Woods", "The Shitheads" and "Bad Luck #13" but weren't as hardcore as those guys; then we would also play with bands like "The Super Friends" and we would be a little too hard for that crowd.

We managed to do tours through Quebec and Ontario once every summer when we were off on school break and toured around the Maritimes during the winter. We did manage to give our label president "Waye Mason" a lift from Toronto back to Halifax in a crazy snowstorm with birthday candles keeping the windshield from freezing cause the heater was broken. We loved that he could be there with us. We did do a two month tour out to BC and back by van. That was the longest tour we ever did.



What were your musical influences?

Our musical influences at the time were "The Misfits", "The Sex Pistols", "The Dead Kennedys", "The Doors", "The Damned", "The Descendents", "The Doughboys" (Who we got to tour with a bit) and "The Ramones".

Can you tell me more about that tour with The Doughboys?

When I was 17 I signed a contract with the Doughboys agent to bring the band to play a date in Lunenburg at the school gym. I had a scary guarantee but went for it. The week before the show the gym pulled the venue from me cause of insurance, so at the last minute were able to move the show to the curling club ice-shed. After that we got to play with them at the old UPEI barn, the Marquee Club in Halifax and a high school somewhere in New Brunswick. We played another show in Bridgewater in some old warehouse that Mike Grey (east coast punk legend and a hell of a nice guy) set up.

Monk their road manager and tech saw how I struggled with keeping my guitar in tune and showed me how to properly string my guitar. He also told Jonathan Cummins where to go if he got a little to sassy with us. John Kastner on the other hand was the most amazingly nice guy I think I have ever met and was the closest thing I ever had to a musical mentor. He would show up at our shows in the Horseshoe tavern in Toronto and places and bring his industry friends to try and help us out. Brock Pytel was really nice too. Great guys and a great band.

There were some lineup changes....when did that happen? What are the members up to now?

The band changed members a while before we recorded "Full Length" in 1998. Hughie was living an hour away and we were playing just about everyday with Simon Rienhardt just for fun. When Simon joined the band Phil left. So we became a three piece. Jordi, Simon and myself. We recorded "Full Length" with Laurence Currie at "Idea of East Studios". Laurence had recorded "Hardhitters" for us in 1995 as well.

Hayz Fisher played on "To the World" but moved to BC. He ended up doing the art layout for the first "Air Traffic Control" record from out west. Simon found the late night club gigs too much after awhile and that`s when we recruited our cousin Luke Comstock to join the band. When we were about to release our next record we all decided it would be a good Idea to change the name of the band, so we became "Air Traffic Control" and released our first self titled record. Air Traffic Control is working on our 5th record right now and has added guitar player Shawn Bent. The guys from ATC all play in Electric City Underground with me as well.

Enjoy a couple Madhat video courtesy of Much Music!






DOWNLOAD THE MADHAT DISCOGRAPHY:
(Since there is a lot I have separated it in to eras for easier download)
S/T Demo (1992) + Freak (1993)
Hardhitters (1995) + Full Length (1998)
From The Outside (2000) + To The World (2002)

DEEP WOODS

Self proclaimed Lumberjack Punks from Timberlea, Nova Scotia. Starting out in 1989 under the name Septic Tank, the band went through some line-up changes and settled on the name Deep Woods. If you were going to shows in Halifax in the early 1990's you no doubt saw play more than a few times. Here we have an interview with their singer Don Trim-Macdonald done in March 2015. It's a bit more conversational then the other interviews I've done and has been edited to flow better. MP3's included as per usual - you get the very rare 1994 demo tape (thank you Greg Baller!!) plus a live set from the Green Room at the Dalhousie Student Union Building from 1992! Enjoy!

Deep Woods live @ Cafe Ole

How did Deep Woods start?

We probably started playing late '89 or '90. I grew up with all of them. Gordie and Rob Francis were brothers and lived down the street from me. Rob Mills who was the bass player… he lived up the road a ways. But this was the first go-around...this was Septic Tank. They were a bit more into metal. We were all headbangers but the punk came from me going to St Andrews ramp. Rob listens to a lot of punk that I don’t… like Stiff Little Fingers. I know the first time I played the DKs for them and they laughed and laughed. They couldn't get over Jello's voice. We had the band together but it sort of fell apart. Then I jammed with No Offense. We never recorded anything – I just jumped on a set they played at a party behind KOD on Blowers St. I wound up singing for them because I knew all the words. That was pretty short lived. Then I left because Deep Woods started jamming again.

What were your influences when you first started?

For me – black flag, circle jerks, SNFU – seeing that first show of SNFU and seeing Chi Pig and the way he jumped and leapt all over the place…that was a real big influence on me. All I wanted to do was be a rubber ball. I remember Robert screaming at me cuz I started leaping off the bass drum cuz I’d seen Chi Pig do it…and he was losing it that I was gonna break his drum kit.

Whose idea was the Cro Mags cover (Hard Times)?

We just really liked the song. May have been rob mills who wanted to do that…it wasn’t my idea. I like the Cro Mags…I never bought anything by them but I liked the songs that I heard like Hard times or We Gotta Know. I was never into the whole skinhead thing one side or the other.

Would you say your sound changed over the course of the band?

We changed from the original lineup. When we first started, we had a guy playing drums named Greg Rankin. He was a friend of Zack from Pro Skates. I met him at Zack’s place on Morris St. and I hung out there a lot cuz I skated with Zack. I met this guy Greg who played drums and that’s actually how the band got back together. We got talking and this guy Greg really wanted to jam. With him we were more…I wouldn’t want to say  RHCP cuz we weren’t as skilled by any stretch of the imagination, but the songs were a little more…jazzy….but they certainly weren’t hardcore. They weren’t as heavy. But he went to university in St John's…so when he left we didn’t have a drummer so that’s when Rob Francis became the drummer for Deep Woods cuz he was off doing whatever with other bands. And that was a big change cuz all of a sudden we got heavier cuz Greg’s influence wasn’t there anymore….he was quite outspoken trying to keep Gord and Rob Mills slowed down. When Robert first showed up he was just trying to learn the songs and pretty much did what we asked him. And he is an incredible drummer. So we got heavier and tighter. 

When was your first show?

First show was in March 1991 pub flamingo $2 Tuesday. We opened up for DPR. There weren’t many shows, so everybody came to shows back then. There was like one show a month. If it was metal or punk or anything remotely heavy, everybody went. Which was cool...it was a good mix.

I know you had a demo tape? Was it ever for sale?

It came out just as we were breaking up. We may have sold it at our last gig in 1994 at Café Ole. We played there a lot…at least once a month. For a while there, Donner Party Reunion and us would literally play there two times a month, maybe three…it was a lot! We played with them a lot everywhere. The 2 bands went together. It was fun. That's who we were with on the infamous Moncton trip. 

Let's talk about that, what happened up there?

We went up to play a show; I can't even remember the name of the place. We went up on a Friday night. We were supposed to play Saturday night and we thought we'd go up a night early and check the place out and just have some fun of it. So our whole band went in a van and Jon Johnson and Reg and maybe Dean (of Donner Party)...there were only 2 or 3 of them. Anyway we went to the bar next door to where we were going to play. We walked in and there was a band playing and they seemed pretty good. We are sort of walking around, I remember distinctly pulling Reg off to the side and saying something is not right here, like we are seriously getting stared at and he's like "no, no people don't know who we are it's all good." Right, they're wondering who these people are. We went in the bath room, came back out, we're standing there drinking and all of a sudden the band on stage, starts playing a Skrewdriver song. Which is very racist band and all these guys with shaved head stood up and started put on bomber jackets, covered in KKK patches and nazi symbols. And John and Reg at least were wearing bomber jackets with S.H.A.R.P patches. So you see where this starts going. So anyway we kind of realized things weren't good. The idea was nobody was supposed to go outside by themselves. Immediately after we made this decision, somehow Gord Rob Mills wound up outside by themselves. And somebody punched Rob in the back of the head and his glasses went flying off. The police got called, we wound up in the back parking lot. There was like 8 of us or something like that. And I think 30... but I'm assuming time making me blow it a little out of proportion so it's probably more like 20 of these guys squared off. The funny part was Jon Johnson had a bat that he had drawn on with a sharpie and it said S.H.A.R.P. on it. So back to the van, Jon with a baseball bat in his hand and this group of them wanted to pulverize us. And the police showed up. One of those guys got arrested because he had an outstanding warrant. We parked the van at the police station for the night and slept in the club that we were going to play. Now the club was attached to the other club that we had been at via one of those glass doors. And they were in there all night drinking after the club closed, playing music. You could hear them and we're all sleeping on the floor. And about 4 o'clock in the morning the alarm went off, the burglar alarm. So everybody was like going around to the doors with weapons and stuff checking to see if somebody had snuck in. It was a bizarre situation, everybody wanted to go home.

Did you end up playing the next night?

Yeah we stayed, we played and absolutely nobody showed up. There might have been 15 people. That's pretty terrible. We made no money, it cost us money to go there. The guy couldn't pay us anything because he didn't bring in anything at the door. He gave us some free subs for supper.

Back to the recordings you did. Was there anything else besides the demo?

There was another recording done by Jake Evans when he was in the band briefly. It was done on a reel to reel at Jake's place. I haven't seen it in a while but I did have the reel. I think there were 2 reels actually. Guessing there were 15 to 20 songs on it. Everything we ever did or could think of including possibly a cover of beat it by Michael Jackson. Jake could play it on the guitar; it seemed funny at the time. I looked into getting it transferred onto cassette or CD, and there was something to do with the machine he had used a thinner, tape like was quarter inch to half inch or something and nobody had anything that would play it or you could get it off of. And I know because he had a small studio in his basement for a while when he was living in Spryfield. He's living in this little house across from all these ghetto apartments. Anyway somebody broke in and stole all the gear, including his instruments I think. So yeah that went missing, so we could never get the actual and nothing ever became of it. I may have even thrown it out a few years ago.

I also have recording of the green room show.

Oh yeah, yeah I've heard that we've played a few shows at the green room, I like that place. Yeah it was neat with the sunken floor. We play a few shows there; Gord's got one on VHS somewhere. He lent me a tape that we had of us playing. It was a different one at the green room. We probably had 3 or 4. 

How did you get on the "Punk, The Next Generation" CD compilation?

Yeah that's the one out of Thunder Bay or maybe one of the bands was out of Thunder Bay.
I don't know, I got a letter in the mail? Yeah....letter in the mail because D Rock had done a thing I think, a story on Halifax scene from Maximum Rock N Roll. We got letters from like Hungary and stuff like that. We are looking for tapes, looking for music and I never sent anybody anything. So terrible, I wrote a couple of people back but we really didn't ever get anything out. We did have the stuff that was live to the floor for cab can hear. That was at the Double Deuce, we're told not to use it but we did. Obviously I mean Greg hands me, here's a tape, master tape for your show, pick a song and one other compilation. He's like and I want the tape back, you can't keep all those other songs, obviously we did.

Did you play outside of Halifax besides that Moncton show?

We played Kentville. There was a small venue in Kentville for a short period of time, but Donner Party had been up the week before us and I not exactly sure what went down. The people that owned the place weren't overly pleased with them and when we got there, there weren't a lot of people. And all they kept saying was like somebody handed them a script. I was like "so why don't you guys like Donner Party - they're great we play with them all the time." They left the bad taste in our mouth is what every kid said, almost word for word. It had something to do with Jon smoking something in the basement. But I mean really that's not that big of a deal. And I was there skateboarding out in front and stuff and it was crazy .They said we had to stop skateboarding on the sidewalk or the police are going to come and they're going to take it. It was funny, it was very strict. We probably played Truro maybe, played Bridgewater a few times. Yeah we played a show with Hip Club Groove at the Exhibition in Lunenberg once, yeah we played a few shows around I can't remember where they all were now.

Were there ever shows in Timberlea?

There was one in Timberlea at the fire hall. Septic Tank played and Adrenalin played, Adrenalin was the headliner. When we were in Septic Tank we got to play at the Dartmouth Sportsplex show in that little room. The place was packed; it got destroyed that's why there was never another show there again. Holes in the roof, in the walls, it was crazy. Actually Zavin’s band was there too - Poke. That was probably 88, 89 something like that.

What are some of your favourite memories of playing shows in Halifax?

My first flamingo show opened up for DPR was incredible, just cause we had, I've been trying, I've been talking everybody knew cause I knew you, I do a lot of people in the scene from skate boarding. And I was trying to get shows but shows were few and far between and the bands that were well liked. It was hard to break in when you were new back then cause like I said there might have one show a month or one every two months. And I mean it was always going to be moral support system over load right. And I'm not knocking those bands because they were great I love seeing them play and stuff but it made it hard to get your foot in the door. And then you know Reg and I were out skating and drinking or both. I was complaining to him about it, he's like we got to two back Tuesday, we've only got so many songs. So an opening band would be good and the place was freaking packed. We postered for like a month and a half leading up to it. I was sticking posters up in the buses, like where the little ads went, all over the universe like everywhere; my parents had a photo copier, a black and white photocopier, so I made hundreds of copies.

 

Why did Deep Woods break up?

I think we really just got on each other’s nerves after a while. Towards the end, we were showing up, we were jamming at  Rob Mill's place and this could have been another reincarnation cause that band got back together several times. But yeah we basically were just getting on each other's nerves, I mean it happens. Relationships are hard enough when there are two people, let alone 5. That was in 1994, but them of course like I said there were reunions. We got back together in probably 2000. We played a show at the Pavilion; we had written a couple of new songs. A friend of mine came out dressed like leader face with a chain saw, cut me up on stage. We played with the Dayglo Abortions there and got in a bit of a rowel. Not with them per say but with Jacquie She booked the show and the band she was in. It was her and Mike, nice guy. I know a few people who know him, the guy who worked with off shore knows him pretty well. Yeah they were playing way over into our time slot, like 4 songs or staring the 5th or something like that. And I got kind of mad and I walked out on stage when they finished the song, shot off all the amps, grabbed the mike and said thank you good night, which didn't go over very well. We also opened for Chixdiggit at the Marquee and they were really cool..

And what have people from the band gone on to since then?

Yeah I went on and did Slitch, I was in Butter Side Down for a while...that was a little more rock and roll. I know Rob still does cover bands... he's sort of like a hired guy, he'll play for whoever when their drummer is sick and out. But yeah he does The Persuaders quite a bit. Rob Mills plays bass in a band I don't know what they're called. It might be sort of jazzy or something like that. But yeah he still plays a lot. Gord doesn't play at all, I don't play at all anymore.

Do you think you'll ever play another show?

Oh for sure, if we could get like No Offense or The Shitheads or Donner Party. If we could make a night of it and get three or 4 bands from the day, that would be neat.  A couple of years ago, Gord wanted to get back together again, but then trying to organize time that we'd all show up... They jammed without me one night and I got kind of mad because it turned out I was actually home. They were like, well we just assumed you were at work and I was like well you could have called and asked but whatever.

Any other final thoughts on the legacy of Deep Woods?

I don't know.... I've had a lot of fun, met a lot of cool people. I met some people who weren't so cool, like MDC - Millions of Dead Cops. What a bunch of asses. Yeah they sort of seemed nice at first, but they were staying at Jakes house. Jake Evans was in Deep Woods for MDC. They ate him out of house and home, made all kinds of collect calls when he wasn't around. And they went and did an interview with Richard and then started slagging us because they didn't like the name Deep Woods cause lumberjacks are evil cause it cut down trees. They missed the whole fact that it was a joke. Well compared to like some other bands I've met, like yeah they were just a bunch of burn outs. That drummer reminded me of Jim Ignatowski from Taxi. He was literally across the street from Jake's house trying to score crack. But I mean you know people have problems. Yeah that's it, lots of fun, lots' of cool people, lots of fun shows. Play the double deuce when it first started. We got in on that before there was a stage or anything, before it was cool. It was nice to be there to start and to finish.

DOWNLOAD MP3s!!!

DOWNLOAD THE DEMO: Deep Woods - Lumberjack Punks Demo Tape

DOWNLOAD THE LIVE SHOW: Deep Woods - Live @ The Green Room

Or just listen to it here. Note there are maybe 20 seconds long gaps between songs:

SHRINE OF AMERICAN MARTYR

Morgan Carpenter once again tells the story of one of his many bands! Today we hear all about Shrine Of American Martyr, who were around from 1999 to 2001. You can download their demo at the end of this or even check it out on youtube first! Now...take it away Morgan!!

Shrine Of American Martyr, or The Shrine as we came to be called  was in some ways a super group at the time, starting in ‘99. Making up the band was me and Mac Ogilvie on guitar and sharing vocals, Lance Purcell (from Snot Party and Falling Out) on drums, and Scott Leighton on bass. At the time Mac and Lance had a lot of notoriety for being in The Plan, Mac had just come off of singing for influential Halifax hardcore band Equation Of State, and I was doing Useless Solution and Envision. Scott was a hermit from Truro.

The Shrine live @ The Arts Guild, Charlottetown, PEI

The band was kind of Me and Mac’s brain child.  We wanted to form a really chaotic, intense hardcore band that appealed to several factions of the hardcore/punk scene.  We combined influences from the emerging "screamo" scene - bands like Orchid, Page 99, and The Locust, and combined them with moodier stuff of the 80's like Joy Division and The Cure...though the result was all power.  Mac and I traded off lyrics creating a co-frontman dynamic, and our shows were always super chaotic, sometimes superseding the music. The hardcore trend of wearing shirts and ties while playing hadn't really exploded yet, so in the beginning this was something we did at every show.

We had set up a short Canada and east coast US tour sometime in the winter of 2000, and in turn every show got cancelled in the weeks before we left but one show in Boston, MA with Orchid. At the time, we were still all obsessing over that band, so decided to drive down to play it anyway. We rented a van and loaded all of our gear and made a 3 day trip out of it, only to arrive to the house the show was at in Boston and find out that Orchid wasn't playing. In fact, they were never even asked to play - a friend of a friend of the promoter said he'd ask them and forgot. We still got to play with Eulcid, who ended up buying all of our demos to sell on their tour.



We made the rounds around Halifax and PEI, building a reputation for our intense live shows.  We got arty and incorporated projected video into some shows, did unexpected covers (like Suck My Left One by Bikini Kill), and in our later songs played into long winded, jammier interludes, though very little of that stuff was ever documented.



With Mac and Lance doing The Plan simultaneously, Lance felt like he didn’t have the time needed to dedicate to our later, more involved stuff and decided to quit.  Not really sure where to go from there, I started playing drums in practice to keep the band active, but I couldn’t match the talent Lance brought.  We were unable to find a suitable replacement, and additionally I believe there was tension between Mac and I for creative control of the new material.  Such is the problem with having two frontmen.  We decided to call it a day, and Lance came back in to play a last show in 2001 at the TKO space.  I somehow set Gerry’s guitar amp on fire during our set.  Oops.



We recorded a four song cassette and self released it at (I believe) our first show. It was recorded by Mike Catano (of The Plan, North Of America, The Holy Shroud, Thrush Hermit, etc.) in his parents basement. Mac and I went in with no lyrical structure, and the result was amazing. The fact that it was recorded in 8 track analog made it really powerful as well.  I’m not sure how many were made.  The Shrine was a band I was really proud of what we achieved, and the demo we produced.  I’d like to see it be released on vinyl someday as I think it holds up against the test of time.

There’s never been a reunion show since our last official show on Good Friday of 2001.  I’d like to think it will happen eventually.


DOWNLOAD THEIR ONLY DEMO!!

or listen to it here:

FALLING OUT

Falling Out might be considered Halifax's first Straight Edge hardcore band....or you could argue that was the previous band featured on here, Spent. In any case, FO were short lived, only played a few shows, but still may be able to lay claim to that title. Morgan Carpenter reflects back on those simpler times, before everyone hated each other. Read on


Falling Out began on the heels on Snot Party’s existence and just prior to Envision’s birth, which would have been around 1998.  Steve and Lance from SP had decided to form a straight edge band with Nathan Doucet (from By Any Means, later Useless Solution) and Keith Porter (later Useless Solution, Led By Regret).  Steve wanted to be the frontman, Lance stuck to drums, Keith played guitar and Nathan on bass.  I (Morgan) came on as a second guitar player most likely out of convenience because the practices were happening in the same basement as the SP practices.

Falling Out live @ The Box, Cole Harbour?

Halifax was never a hotbed for the straight edge scene, but in the late 90’s, it was probably about the hottest it has ever been.  The Falling Out songs fit right into the trends in hardcore of the time, but by today’s standards are very bland and by the numbers.  The band couldn’t have existed any other time and be taken with any degree of seriousness. Even then it was marginal.

We had about a set’s worth of songs and recorded a demo with Phil Clark (from Equation Of State, AV) at the newly opened Pavilion in it’s first incarnation.  There wasn’t a huge amount of shows played, and those that were were solely in the HRM.  The most memorable for me was playing the basement show at Food-Not-Bombs-hat-girl’s house (a girl who wore a hat with a FNB patch on it, but that no one had ever seen at Food Not Bombs) in Dartmouth, which was probably the summer of ’98.

Flyer for one of the band's rare shows

Falling Out didn’t last long, and was barely a blip on Halifax’s radar.  Like most straight edge bands, inner quarrels and edge weakening eventually brought it all to an end.  Ironically, Steve and I had a falling out, and I quit the band.  The same reasons brought Snot Party to an end at the same time.  Once I was gone, Falling Out didn’t last much longer (I don’t believe there were any shows afterwards).  This was probably partially because I poached Nathan and Keith to start Useless Solution (with Gerry from Snot Party).

Shortly after Lance started Led By Regret with Keith, and eventually started The Plan.  Nathan kept doing By Any Means and started Useless Solution with Keith and I.  In addition to Useless Solution, I started Envision around the same time with Ian Hart, and quicky started other bands like Shrine Of American Martyr, Coleridge, joined Existench, etc.  Steve was playing bass with By Any Means for a short time before leaving, which I believe ended his musical tenure.

The Falling Out demo had 5 songs (I believe) and sounds okay at best.  You can hear a miss-mash of influences in there, from chugging Victory Rec stuff, to a-tonal Ebullition style minor chords - all very typical of the time.  The demo cover is terrible, even by straight edge band standards.  We covered ‘Impact’ by Chain Of Strength, which was probably the biggest crowd pleaser.

Exactly zero members of Falling Out are still straight edge today.


Now watch some videos of the band live:






DOWNLOAD THE DEMO HERE:
FALLING OUT DISCOGRAPHY (aka 6 songs)

Or just giv'r a listen here:

SPENT

Spent were a Halifax band most notable for featuring Chris Murphy of Sloan. I first heard Spent on the local college station CKDU in the late 80's. The song was called Scapegoat and it was great...real Dag Nasty feel to it. I taped it off the radio and listened to it a lot but the band was a bit of a mystery to me at the time. I eventually figured out the Sloan connection but it wasn't until much more recently I was able to track down their full demo (which was never actually released). They were originally called Aware (whose one and only live set is now included thanks to Stephen Cooke!) and although they played very few shows and didn't really have a huge impact on the scene, it is an interesting piece of the puzzle that lead to one of Halifax's most famous exports: Sloan. In late 2014 I got in touch with Chris Murphy, who took the time to help tell the story of Spent.

Was Spent your first band?

My first band was called Wite Out - Marc/Mark (not sure which) Ducharme (vocals), Steve McCulloch (sp?) (guitar), myself (bass) and Mike Crosby (drums). Wite Out was more goofy/ironic than a lot of the angst-ridden local hardcore bands. We played a few shows in 1986 at The Bible Society and the YWCA. We played some covers (Question Authority - Circle Jerks, Gas Chamber - Angry Samoans, Trust - 7 Seconds) but we had a bunch of originals. We made very rough live recordings of our half dozen songs at our rehearsal space but we never had a release.

What influenced you to form Spent? Is there anything you can tell us about Spent’s brief existence?

After Wite Out, Steve McCulloch (guitar) and I (now guitar) formed Aware with another guy named Chris Murphy aka Zombie (vocals), Colleen Britton (drums) and Gordon Krieger (bass). Aware played only one show at The Club Flamingo on Gottingen St. in 1987.

We renamed ourselves Spent when Colleen left and I moved to drums. We recorded several originals at the Centre For Art Tapes but they were never released. Spent only played a couple of shows. We played at a place I rented on Robie near North Street that some called The Harmony House and I believe we played at the Dal SUB. This was 1988.

The music was more serious than Wite Out. The other Chris Murphy wrote the lyrics, which were personal/proto emo/Dischord obsessed. I would have been too self conscious to write that way. In my opinion, we were better than all the other strictly hardcore bands in town but we didn’t last long.

Was Spent a straight edge band?

I always thought of myself as straight edge. I don’t know if the bands would have considered themselves straight edge but it seemed no one drank except Colleen Britton. Chris Murphy and I and our friend Scott Kennedy went on what was essentially a pilgrimage to Washington D.C. in 1987 and again in 1988 with all of Spent, to soak up the city that had produced Dischord Records, Minor Threat and Straight Edge. We were pretty into it. In 1988, we saw what I believe was Fugazi’s 3rd show.

Was there any animosity from others about being straight edge? 

My junior high friends called me Father Murphy, which was a TV show at the time. I remember being nervous that I didn’t drink at a party with people I didn’t know who were legit punks.

How did you meet up with the folks in Spent? I know the other Chris Murphy did a radio show on CKDU

I don’t know. I feel like I was introduced to that Chris Murphy at the Dal SUB but I can’t remember what was happening there. I’m sure we were introduced because we had the same name. 

So after Spent did you start Kearny Lake Road right away? How did you hook up with Jay for that?

I had Spent and KLR happening at the same time in 1987/1988. KLR felt pretty un-punk. I felt goofy singing and my early efforts were extremely self-conscious. I put a sarcastic tone on my voice in case anyone thought I was trying too hard etc. KLR was pretty pop compared to Spent but I was forcing NoMeansNo type drumming over REM and 60’s riffs. 

I worked at the VG Hospital with Matt Murphy (later of the Super Friendz) who had known Jay since grade 1. Matt introduced me to Jay and Henri Sangalang. We were all at Kings or Dal. 

Interesting facts about the unreleased demo:

Track 1 To Each His Own

Track 2 Remains The Same

Track 3 I’ve Seen What Can Happen (??? not sure)

Track 4 Scapegoat

Track 5 Don’t Deal In Lies (??? not sure. Lyrics are from “If” by Rudyard Kipling)

Track 6 Simple Years

Track 7 “Dag Shag” unfinished instrumental

I feel like I wrote all of the music for tracks 1-4 and Steve wrote tracks 5-7. We were getting good but split up for whatever reason. I forget.

I want to be clear that all the guys in Spent played one show as a 5-piece called Aware at the Flamingo on Gottingen with Collen on drums and myself on 2nd guitar. Colleen was out and we changed our name to Spent. The demo did not include Colleen.

AWARE

Chris (Robert) Murphy aka Zombie

Steve McCullough (sp?) - guitar

Gordon Krieger (sp?) - bass

Chris (Michael) Murphy - guitar

Colleen Britton  - drums

SPENT

Chris (Robert) Murphy aka Zombie

Steve McCullough (sp?) - guitar

Gordon Krieger (sp?) - bass

Chris (Michael) Murphy - drums

DOWNLOAD : The Demo, Live Set as Aware & Alternate Version of Scapegoat.

LISTEN to the demo