Today's first song is by a Toronto band from the mid 90s called Suckerpunch. At the time their album Carols From The Canyon was released they received a fair amount of local attention, which turned out to be shortlived as they broke up less than a year later. Members went on to form Dodge Fiasco and other smaller projects that never seemed to get off the ground, and what turned out to be their only only album seems all but ignored now.
I was always a big fan of this band. I remember being upset that they only ever played 19+ shows in Toronto when I was too young to go. By the time I was of age they were long gone. I also remember listening to Ten Thousand Reasons (posted below) at least 10 times in a row at a crappy party on new years eve sometime in the late 90s. An ex girlfriend never gave back my only CD copy after we broke up and I had to scour the city for another one (luckily their manager dumped a whole bunch of vinyl copies at Rotate This last year which now sell for $9.99). I also remember meeting the singer Chris Dignan years later when he was a bouncer at Rancho Relaxo - I asked if he was once in a band called Suckerpunch, and he just kind of nodded and didn't really seem too eager to open up a conversation about it. I told him that Carols From the Canyon was one of my favourite albums and he thanked me but still seemed a little passive about the whole thing - I then told him that I thought it was one of the sexiest records ever written, which I guess is a pretty big compliment, and suddenly he got all jazzed and shook my hand and thanked me a lot. To that end, Carols From the Canyon is a great album - full of sleazy rockabilly songs inspired by 70s punk rock that comes off as a party record that more people should've heard.
Anyhow, here is Ten Thousand Reasons off of Carols From the Canyon.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/b36oj2
The second song is also an all time favourite - That Certain Female by Charlie Feathers. I came across his music by way of The Cramps who opened up a lot of doors for me when it came to discovering rockabilly music. They had covered another song of his called Can't Hardly Stand It on Bad Music For Bad People and it made me curious to hear the original. After getting into more of his music though, the song I'm posting here attracted me way more with it's raucous opening, wild variations in the feel of his vocals throughout the song, and the way he bashes out the solo while yelling at his guitar. I would say this song is near perfect. Here it is:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ojn8it
I was always a big fan of this band. I remember being upset that they only ever played 19+ shows in Toronto when I was too young to go. By the time I was of age they were long gone. I also remember listening to Ten Thousand Reasons (posted below) at least 10 times in a row at a crappy party on new years eve sometime in the late 90s. An ex girlfriend never gave back my only CD copy after we broke up and I had to scour the city for another one (luckily their manager dumped a whole bunch of vinyl copies at Rotate This last year which now sell for $9.99). I also remember meeting the singer Chris Dignan years later when he was a bouncer at Rancho Relaxo - I asked if he was once in a band called Suckerpunch, and he just kind of nodded and didn't really seem too eager to open up a conversation about it. I told him that Carols From the Canyon was one of my favourite albums and he thanked me but still seemed a little passive about the whole thing - I then told him that I thought it was one of the sexiest records ever written, which I guess is a pretty big compliment, and suddenly he got all jazzed and shook my hand and thanked me a lot. To that end, Carols From the Canyon is a great album - full of sleazy rockabilly songs inspired by 70s punk rock that comes off as a party record that more people should've heard.
Anyhow, here is Ten Thousand Reasons off of Carols From the Canyon.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/b36oj2
The second song is also an all time favourite - That Certain Female by Charlie Feathers. I came across his music by way of The Cramps who opened up a lot of doors for me when it came to discovering rockabilly music. They had covered another song of his called Can't Hardly Stand It on Bad Music For Bad People and it made me curious to hear the original. After getting into more of his music though, the song I'm posting here attracted me way more with it's raucous opening, wild variations in the feel of his vocals throughout the song, and the way he bashes out the solo while yelling at his guitar. I would say this song is near perfect. Here it is:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ojn8it
posted by MTD at 7:36 AM
9 Comments:
Fuck yeah, Suckerpunch were so the bomb. Showering plus Suckerpunch? Great combo...I saw the younger brother a couple of weeks ago in Toronto where he was bartending at some far west Queen joint. Super nice guy, and he was sporting a Brutal Knights T...so was I. Kinda gay encounter, we talked about BK, and my friend mentioned that I really like Suckerpunch to him. After that, it wasn't all that awkward thankfully.
That suckerpunch song is excellent, I remember only hearing them on Mods and Rockers when JC was hosting it and I was listening (unbeknownst to my parents) till 12 o clock,usually falling asleep before it finished (my 13,14,15 year old body couldn't handle those long nights). I probably haven't thought of that band since i stopped listening to my MnR mixtapes. Thanks for this song, it made me feel so good to hear it.
p.s. i really hope we are talking about the same band, i'm sure we are.
The links weren't there, which is a shame because I was jonesing for Suckerpunch. They definitely were an inspiring Toronto band when I was growing up, especially to myself, my friend Andrew who joined the Deadly Snakes and my friends Allyson and Jaime who I wound up playing with in Teen Crud Combo. We just thought it was rad that there was dark, rocking and fresh music being made in our hometown. The Dignans rule. I think Chris and Sean's bands(The Shovels and Dodge Fiasco, respectively) alternate a thursday night residency at The Dakota Tavern at Dundas and Ossington. That's totes sweet you were both wearing BK torso covers.
I'll second Nick's statements... Sean was my drum teacher (for all of about a month) back in highschool. totally my fave live band ever. somewhere i hope i still have some video-i haven't been able to find it for the last year- from a new year's gig and some other stuff (including 3 songs of the first or second Sadies show ever). Chris played drums for awhile in the Midways and both he & Sean both tend bar in Parkdale. I think there's still some bitter associations with the breakup.. they used to really not like to talk about it but at least they acn accept compliments now. I've heard that Chris has a solo album nearly ready, and there's also possibly a Dodge Fiasco album ready.
Sean was great in The Doberman Gang, which preceeded SP by a couple of years. Awesome band ,listen to them if you can!
Still my favourite band
Yeah The Doberman Gang were very influential at the time....used to go see them at the Quoc-Te in Kensington Market...HOT guitar player with GREAT songs!
The Doberman Gang Rocked! True pioneers, alas no recorded output. A real shame as this band was VERY influential on the scene at the time. Classic tunes.
Just picked up the SP cd off ebay on a hunch as I am always looking out for good Cdn music. This cd is a nice treat. Real low-fi sound. To me it's like surf punk. Is there such a thing lol.
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