Music

8 Canadian spazzcore bands you may have forgotten

by Josiah Hughes

Wolfnote by Paul Galipeau

It’s sort of hard to believe it, particularly when you watch a video like this, but spazzy post-hardcore used to be the hottest music around. It was the early 2000s, and the world was a different place — Audiogalaxy was the go-to spot to find the perfect tracks for your archaic burnt CDs, youth pastors had just switched sermon metaphors from The Matrix trilogy to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Lorde was but a drooling toddler.

Much to the chagrin of tough-guy hardcore enthusiasts and their pop-punk playing brethren, all ages shows were also populated with spazzcore nerds. A primer, in case you can’t remember — these were the kids with ill-fitting ringer T’s, dyed black Spock haircuts and shiny white belts. The Blood Brothers were their Beatles, with Jordan Blilie and Johnny Whitney their sassy, shock-haired John and Paul, and The Locust was their KISS, a group of theatrical monsters inspiring a legion of black-shirted nerds to nerd out over belt buckles and puzzle-shaped 7-inches. Everyone over analyzed the bizarre lyrics of At the Drive-In, and Three One G and GSL did for wussy, jelly-bracelet adorned hardcore kids what Verve and Blue Note did for jazz. Even notorious powerviolence provocateur Mark McCoy got involved.

There were vague, revolutionary politics in the words and fonts (mostly the word “revolution,” which popped up a lot), limp-wristed handclaps aplenty, and mountains of bizarre merch. The music was packed with dissonant guitars (often toying with jazz chords), busy rhythm sections, Roland synths, and smarmy, snotty vocals.

Canada wasn’t safe from hardcore’s sassiest, sauciest era. Instead, we homed some of the sub-sub-subgenre’s best and quirkiest bands. Here, a rundown of 8 Canadian spazzcore bands who helped spark a revolution on the dancefloor, baby.

 

Black Cat #13

Before he was cranking up the fuzz bass as a member of your alternative brother’s favourite radio punk duo Death From Above 1979, Jesse F. Keeler (edgily, the F. stands for “fucking”) was a ringleader in white belt circles. An auteur of attitude, he fronted the perfectly-named-for-the-subgenre Femme Fatale, and drummed in Black Cat #13. The latter was particularly notable because, despite hailing from Ontario, they caught the attention of spazzcore demi-god and Locust member Justin Pearson, who released the group’s records on his Three One G imprint. Plus, they may have perfectly captured the era’s floppy handed dance moves by titling a song “Wrist Toward Elbow.” Above, listen to the shrieking single “The Girl With the Wire Skull.”

 

The Sick Lipstick

JFK wasn’t the only member of Black Cat #13 to strike a chord with his post-Black Cat projects. The band’s Lindsey Gillard and Mark McLean soon followed it up with the Sick Lipstick, a group who released records with then-hot labels like 5RC, Deleted Art and Sound-Virus. Here, busy guitar runs, new wave-y synths, and busy drum beats creatie a messy and terrifying place for Gillard’s shrill vocals to rest atop. Plus, they’ve got some provocative lyrics relating to gender, sex and religion. Case in point? The noisy, Arab on Radar-esque “Sermon From Between His Legs.”

 

The Red Light Sting

Along with The Sick Lipstick, California’s Sound-Virus imprint also played host to The Red Light Sting, the Vancouver-based post-hardcore band that most notably featured ex-members of legendary pop-punk/emo crew D.B.S. (along with Canadian music journo Greg Adams, who fronted the project). Few bands encapsulated the genre as well as them — from Andy Dixon’s complicated guitar runs through the frantic synths and sassy vocals, they released some of the subgenre’s best records. They also had a wild n’ sassy live show that saw them sweating through their matching vintage gym shorts at venues all over North America. “My Penis Looks Big All Night Long,” one of many RLS songs with a mindblowingly stupid title, demonstrates many of their talents, from busy guitar work through vocals that span from Adams’ growling bark and melodic croon through the inimitable keyboardist Zoë Verkuylen (notable: now married to the Blood Brothers’ Jordan Blilie) shrieks at the breakdown. It’s one of their slower songs, to be sure, but also one of their best.

 

Hot Hot Heat

Before they were a chart-topping indie pop band, Victoria’s Hot Hot Heat were one of the sassiest in the bunch. That name alone should be a clear indicator of their dance-party hall shows, but the music really speaks for itself. Their early incarnation with original vocalist Matthew Marnik (who was let go right before they broke big, ouch) dropped two releases on Vancouver’s Ache Records imprint (the underrated, wildly diverse label run by Red Light Sting/D.B.S. axe-man Andy Dixon, responsible for the Four Tet / Hella split you didn’t know you needed). “The Case They Gave Me” comes from the band’s 2000 split with the Red Light Sting, and perfectly indicates what they were like as a sassy dance-punk band. After a sordid cabaret intro, it kicks into a highly danceable punk jam that had Seylynn Hall’s dancefloor drenched in sweat way back when.

 

The WPP

Originally forming out of the ashes of Cloverdale’s best pop-punk bands Bloom and Target (though its founding members were also connected to Burden and Gob), the WPP started off with the much longer name of the Witness Protection Program (whose album The Revolution That Never Was and Never Will Be not only contained the word “revolution,” but also a classic all ages dance move where you switched hand signals from guns to phones). Eventually, they switched up their lineup, shortened their moniker and released certified bangers in Boom! Jam!, Baam! Jaam! and their pre-breakup classic LP He Has the Technology, becoming Vancouver’s best live band in the process. The latter’s “You’re Not Paralyzed, You’re Just Lazy” and “Let’s See A Little Less Standing Around, A Little More Jumping Out of Cakes” exemplify what made this band so great — rock-inflected guitar interplay, hilariously loboto lyrics ripped straight from pop culture, and wild, sporadic rhythms that really put the spazz in spazzcore. The record’s rough-around-the-edges production, along with its emphasis on unpredictable songwriting, make it sound just as good today as it did back when you were still hitting the bottle of black hair dye.

 

The Wolfnote

Over in Edmonton, the revolution was spurred by five-piece wrecking crew the Wolfnote, who built a name for their frenetic dance-punk songs that fit the genre mould perfectly —frantic guitar runs, silly synths, a sturdy rhythm section and call-and-response vocals shouting out faux-political lyrics that’d give Dennis Lyxzén a situationist boner. After a pair of EPs, the group reached upward to grand post-hardcore production god Alex Newport (The Locust, At the Drive-in) to add some sheen to their LP This is the Getdown, which was released by Black Box Music (now home to Classified and Shad, somehow). Though they disbanded, the revolution continues in their new projects Bayonets!!!, the Famines, the Fucking Lottery and Betrayers, among others. Relive the glory with the hand claps and gang vocals of “Buzz! Buzz! Party! Party!” and while you’re at it be sure to check out some sassy fist pumping in this live version of “Computers Talk Computers Rock.”

 

Sudden Infant Dance Syndrome

Calgary’s The Corta Vita were regulars on Wolfnote bills, and members include Beatroute B.C. editor Glenn Alderson, but they didn’t quite fit the mould of spazzy, goofy dance-punk, instead opting for a grey-hued math rock-inspired emo. Calgary’s real white belt superstars were Sudden Infant Dance Syndrome. Offering up angular, disjointed guitar-and-synth jams that routinely offered up bursts of weirdo disco and screaming noise punk — fodder for a hectic live show. Just listen to the sass on display in “Zombie Song” and “Graveyard.” Plus, despite disbanding, members are practically running Canada’s power-pop and garage resurrection: When he’s not making up words for Weird Canada, drummer Jesse Locke mans the skins in the Ketamines (who, at a point, also featured his former S.I.D.S. bandmate Sarah Ford). Frontman Craig Fahner offers up soothing power-pop in the excellent Feel Alright, where he’s often joined by Brady Kirchner. Kirchner, for his part, also plays guitar in Calgary’s excellent punk quartet The Mandates.

 

Viking Club

Toronto’s Viking Club was fronted by Eric Warner, who now runs the eclectic We Are Busy Bodies imprint (which, come to think of it, has the sort of name that’d fit perfectly in this era). The group specialize in busy, frenetic post-hardcore complete with wild, spazzy jazz chords, hand-claps, gang vocals and Warner’s sassy yelp. Guitarist Matt King was wild with the fretboard, and brought his love of outsider experimentation, albeit on different instruments, into future projects like DD/MM/YYYY and Absolutely Free.