Scream & Writhe Forum

Inspired by all the recent discussion on newer Canadian artists, I thought it was appropriate to make a separate thread about Canadian noise from the past, near and far. There's so much overlooked and nearly forgotten about projects and labels that were flourishing in previous times, uncertain if this is just due to poor documentation, lack of interest outside of the country, or the primitive years of the internet.

In any case - I'll start by bringing up some of the gems of Montreal circa 2005-2010. In my memory, things were so active during these years there were sometimes multiple noise gigs per week, and an overwhelming amount of places you could book things, between Casa Del Popolo (single room!), Divan Orange, Friendship Cove, Zoobizarre, Fattal lofts, La Brique, Le Cagibi, Green Room, and the metric ton of other loft venues which popped up and vanished.

There were so many great projects playing regularly, mostly involved with a few more active labels - Alien8, Fluorescent Friends, Pasalymany Tapes, and Brise-Cul come to mind first.

Blake Hargreaves projects incl. Cousins Of Reggae, Thames, Dreamcatcher, Clinton Machine, etc. were always fun, and definitely need to mention the Earthunder and Cool Fest fests. His solo organ LP on Ultra Eczema in the last few years is totally worth a listen, although not noise at all.
Alex Moskos likewise had a ton of stuff going on, between Drainolith, Thames, Unireverse, playing in Aidswolf, and tons more
Of course Âmes Sanglantes has to be mentioned, but I only remember him playing live a handful of times during this period

Lesser mentioned but still unforgettable stuff like Sunken Skulls \ Metis Yetis, Gold Sword, Shoebomber \ Dead Bush, Selfish Implosions, Wasted Nymph, Pon De Replay, and then more dark ambient stuff like Cyclic Law \ Visions, Menace Ruine, etc... there's tons more that I'm forgetting, but I'm pressed for time at the moment.

Just want to point out that Felix and Moskos are doing a great job with their youtube channel "Unknown Province" documenting some not always noise, but always weird and underground Can-Con.

https://www.youtube.com/@unknownprovince7735

Canada has such a long history of "noise" in the broader sense that this could spiral into lists of hundreds of bands easily. The west coast had all of the art/drone/weirdo (and often noise rock) stuff connected to Vancouver labels like Isolated Now Waves and Thankless. Long-haulers like Holzkopf that tend to have a more electronic/techno approach but know how to drop noise bombs when they have to. Plus the whole Weird Canada scene in general.

Josh Rose's rundownsun label had a brief but formidable run in the mid 00s. Predominantly harsh noise in focus, he also was able to straddle a line between pure harsh noise and high-concept art, much like his project Sick Buildings (and collaborative efforts with Sam McKinlay in BT. HN.). rundownsun was also responsible for rescuing the Tunnel Canary material from obscurity (Canada's first noise band, forming in 1979).

The Noise! fest in Victoria ran for a decade and I only made it to the final year. Ron did tireless work in curating and hosting (and providing a loud PA... Xome was UNREAL).

The Vancouver Noise Fest established its current edition in 2011, with previous years curated by Lashen from Flat Grey.

GX lived in Canada in the late 70s and early 80s, meaning the earliest releases from The Haters could technically be considered Canadian noise...

Lots more to dive into here, historically.

Scream & Writhe wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:40 pm Canada has such a long history of "noise" in the broader sense that this could spiral into lists of hundreds of bands easily.

I hope it does !!

Scream & Writhe wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:40 pm The Noise! fest in Victoria ran for a decade and I only made it to the final year. Ron did tireless work in curating and hosting (and providing a loud PA... Xome was UNREAL).

Lots of wild acts that I think only performed live... Grandpa Big Balls was a classic to catch. Don't think he did any releases at all. I can remember him setting up what was I guess a whole living room and vacuuming a carpet in an old t-shirt and tighty whities.



Good little site for who played and when:
https://industrial.org/noise/index.php

Vancouver definitely has had some great acts over the years and i have put on quite a few of them as time goes on but one thing that i always found weird was the audience numbers. sometimes they are very hit and miss, as with most things i guess but i remember putting on gordon ashworth, the rita, molena and another act and only four people showed up.

Molena wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 9:52 pm i remember putting on gordon ashworth, the rita, molena and another act and only four people showed up.

Blessed to have been one of the four.

It's all about the Dead Masochistic Gut. (Okay, I'll admit, I just like the name. Was proably bigger on the industrial strains of Crawl/Child at the time tbh, though daaamn these some shiiit quality rips, gotta love.)

I always loved the Ketchup Cavern label - the name especially but the Vancouver 2x7", the Seagull 7" (Canadian?) and the (not Canadian) Robedoor 7" were awesome records.

Moisture Discipline was a real favourite - have lost touch with Blair over the years - my old noisecore band did a split tape with them.... called "Fuck You Craft Beer Asshole". I'm very proud of that one!!

I really like the Tunnel Canary output streamable online and would welcome any resissues of their material, if such a thing is possible.

Very harsh and piercing guitar noise with fierce shrieking vocals. No real comparison I can think of, but perhaps its what you would get if you mixed Harry Pussy with Les Rezilles Denudes.

APPLE wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:16 am I really like the Tunnel Canary output streamable online and would welcome any resissues of their material, if such a thing is possible.

I have a vague memory of hearing that someone was trying this and it didn’t work out. I’m sure even if I’ve imagined it that there will have been a number of attempts throughout the years. I agree it would be great to see.

adult human wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:31 am

APPLE wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:16 am I really like the Tunnel Canary output streamable online and would welcome any resissues of their material, if such a thing is possible.

I have a vague memory of hearing that someone was trying this and it didn’t work out. I’m sure even if I’ve imagined it that there will have been a number of attempts throughout the years. I agree it would be great to see.

I was looking into doing a double cassette version compiling the stuff rundownsun issued on the two LPs, plus I believe some other unreleased material. Josh from rundownsun gave me the go-ahead on his end, and Nathan Holiday (founding member) wanted to meet in person to discuss but my time was limited on my last trip out west (I guess it was two trips ago, actually) and it didn't pan out. I'd still like to make it happen, probably on a CD or two, though it seems like it might take a certain amount of, hm, sociable effort to make it work.

So long as we're talking long gone Canadian obscurities, Mike McAvella's very short-lived Scissor deserves mention. This was a chap what hung out with the Xcretaria boys, and was responsible for what was I believe described as Xcretaria sub-label Puncture, which released the two BLISS: Flesh comps circa '96, among perhaps a few other goodies.

I wrote up a split tape favorably comparing Scissor to Pain Jerk and 666 Volt Battery Noise (scroll down a bit, on the page it's Cracksteel > Pain Jerk > Dead Body Love > Skin Crime > Stimbox/A.U.M./Death Squad > Taint/Smell & Quim/Con Dom > Knurl > ORPHX > Portism/Scissor > BLISS: Flesh vol. 1). Though I'd say definitely inclining more along the latter (666vbn), at least as far as preeminent commitment to the harshest inflections and the tendency to play hack-n-slash with the momentum. For more contemporary reference maybe something like Ex/Sex Jesus. Playing right now and still sounds pretty vicious to these sadly depleted 'holes.

I was also going to a lot of Montreal noise shows in the early 2010s (though living in Ottawa). Casa is the main venue that I remember, but maybe it was sometimes something else. Probably my favourite local noise-ish project in that scene was S/V\R aka Sévère– are they still active? I remember Dreamcatcher and Drainolith doing house shows in Ottawa in that era, and seeing Freida Abtan (then affiliated with NWW) there too.

Joie de la Blumpy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 9:16 pm So long as we're talking long gone Canadian obscurities, Mike McAvella's very short-lived Scissor deserves mention. This was a chap what hung out with the Xcretaria boys, and was responsible for what was I believe described as Xcretaria sub-label Puncture, which released the two BLISS: Flesh comps circa '96, among perhaps a few other goodies.

Wow, this a new name to me. The lineups on those comps are pretty amazing. Really great to see that there were more harsh noise heads here in those days. There is so much obscurity surrounding everything (given the general word-of-mouthness, pre-internet dominance, etc), it's like a lost chapter of history.

Soddy, maybe I've asked you before, but do you know who was behind Tension Hook?

Scream & Writhe wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 9:20 am Soddy, maybe I've asked you before, but do you know who was behind Tension Hook?

That would be a midwest chap who was pretty active on the old alt.noise usenet group under the nom Stig Mathausen. We did a few trades and then he (Mr Mathausen) defected to the East (Canada) and on to bigger and better things.

Couple bits of trivia. The name Tension Hook was apparently bestowed by Roemer, taken off a demo track title from the then-nameless project. (Not I believe the first nor last project to be "Roemered" in this fashion.) Yasutoshi Yoshida reviews the seminal Sounds of Defection in Denshi Zatsuon and wonderfully miscredits "Fubar's stereo" as a sound source. Good ol' Fubar, heck of a guy. Prior to Sounds of Defection TH did a Macro inspired ode to the roots from which he defected entitled Lethbridge, AB, aka Bible Belt, Buttfuck. (Duly noting that Crawl/Child hailed from Pontypool ON so no one's impugning no one from no buttfuck. Au contraire. Buttfuck, as the noise podcasts will often iterate, has blessed us, the unworthy, with buttloads of brutal bedazzlement.)

Victoria and Vancouver 2000s thru 2010s was total fire!
the Victoria and Vancouver Noise Fests I attended are still vivid fresh in my mind. Best times, best places.

What can someone tell me about the project Coastal from Victoria? Back in the Troniks/Myspace days I caught a vid of him doing a set using fucked recordings of wind captured in the local area which I thought was cool. Absolute pish old phone cam quality though. Don't think I ever did get a chance to hear any recordings?

Loving this thread and, whilst I don't want to distract too much, a lot of this confirms my suspicions that a hell of a lot of 00's era noise requires revisitation! Might have to make a separate thread.

adult human wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:57 pm What can someone tell me about the project Coastal from Victoria? Back in the Troniks/Myspace days I caught a vid of him doing a set using fucked recordings of wind captured in the local area which I thought was cool. Absolute pish old phone cam quality though. Don't think I ever did get a chance to hear any recordings?

Eric is still around! Legend of the mixer feedback skronk. He played Vancouver Noise Fest not too long ago, maybe 2019 or 2018 editions?

Scream & Writhe wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:04 pm

adult human wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:57 pm What can someone tell me about the project Coastal from Victoria? Back in the Troniks/Myspace days I caught a vid of him doing a set using fucked recordings of wind captured in the local area which I thought was cool. Absolute pish old phone cam quality though. Don't think I ever did get a chance to hear any recordings?

Eric is still around! Legend of the mixer feedback skronk. He played Vancouver Noise Fest not too long ago, maybe 2019 or 2018 editions?

Great to hear. Any recordings of then/now material kicking around on youtube or bandcamp or anything as far as you know?

adult human wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:05 pm

Scream & Writhe wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:04 pm

adult human wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:57 pm What can someone tell me about the project Coastal from Victoria? Back in the Troniks/Myspace days I caught a vid of him doing a set using fucked recordings of wind captured in the local area which I thought was cool. Absolute pish old phone cam quality though. Don't think I ever did get a chance to hear any recordings?

Eric is still around! Legend of the mixer feedback skronk. He played Vancouver Noise Fest not too long ago, maybe 2019 or 2018 editions?

Great to hear. Any recordings of then/now material kicking around on youtube or bandcamp or anything as far as you know?

Not sure actually. I was trying to get a tape out of him for years but nothing was materializing. I should hit him up again.

He also does collage art here https://www.instagram.com/eric.gallipo.art/

have to mention skrunt skrunt from edmonton who has played victoria and vancouver noise fests, as well as other shows around the place for some time now. abram's stuff is always interesting and unique, sometimes abrasive, sometimes soft but completely new sounding which is a breath of fresh air. he is also an organizer of shows in edmonton and the edmonton noise fest alongside others.

I need to do my research into the Great White North some more. That being said, anything Ryan Bloomer touches is blessed as fuck.

The time Ryan Bloomer blasted across Canada on his motorcycle to get to Victoria Noise Fest and play a super bad-ass set.

Eric Coastal…. I love that guy. He rules!
What happened to Cory Brutophilia. He was a nice guy.

Things I remember with varying degrees of clarity from the early 80's to mid 90's - genre boundaries were much more fluid in those days so a lot of this falls into inbetween areas... probably forgetting and/or misremembering a lot of people, fellow old folks can add to or correct these probably occasionally faulty memories... some of these people continued over the years, many didn't:

Bands/artists:

Analystic Investivations / ai/ia/af (Montreal)
Angelicate + side projects (Fredericton/Halifax/Montreal)
Audio-Sculpture EXP. (Montreal)
Bitter Harvest (Halifax/Toronto)
Blind Hunters/Chasseurs Aveugles (Montreal)
Brenda Leer (Montreal) - Martin Dumais, later of AUN, iirc
Catharsist/Convulsive Trance (Montreal)
Crawl/Child + side projects (Pontypool, ON)
W.A. Davidson/Songs of the New Erotics (Toronto)
Dresden'45 (Fredericton, NB)
Dust That Collects
Electro Static Cat / Empirical Sleeping Consort (Toronto)
eMIS sPHERE (Montreal)
Human Remains (Montreal)
The Infant Cycle (Hamilton, ON)
Kaiser Nietzsche (Toronto)
Steve Kay (Halifax)
Masochistic Religion/Dead Masochistic Gut (Toronto)
Mind Altering Device (Montreal)
Mindsculpture/Chronic Remorse/Unit 731, etc (Kitchener, ON)
Néant (Montreal)
The Nihilist Spasm Band (obviously) (London, ON)
Not 1/2 / Skeletal Remains (Calgary)
Obituary (Fredericton)
Odd's (Montreal)
...Of Tanz Victims (Montreal)
Orphx (Dundas, ON)
Phycus (Halifax/Ottawa/Montreal)
Pray for Prostitution
David Scurr (Toronto)
Seppuku Gala
Songs of the New Erotics (Hamilton, ON)
Telepathic Injuries (Fredericton)
Tibetan Red (from Spain but based in Toronto in the 80's)
Varoshi Fame (Toronto)
Violence and the Sacred (Toronto)
Vraxoin
Words of Anger

Labels:
Alien8 (Montreal)
Batarrr (Montreal)
Bunker Records (Montreal) - also had a fantastic shop on St.Denis, later moved and shifted more in a techno/house direction, closed finally in the early-mid 90's.
Caustic Tapes (Montreal)
Chimik Communications (Montreal)
Disembraining Songs (Toronto)
Doomsday Transmissions (Kitchener, ON)
DOVe Inc (Toronto)
Dystonia (Fredericton/Halifax/Montreal)
Freedom in a Vacuum (Toronto) - probably THE most important source in Canada for unusual music in the last half of the 80's apart from the Bunker shop.
Industrial Therapy Unit (Calgary)
John Doe Recordings (Toronto)
The NAS Organisation (Montreal)
Neoist Machine Group/Musicus Phycus/Total Zero (Halifax/Ottawa/Montreal)
Terra Vox (Montreal)

William A. Davidson is still active on occasion. Last group he was in, I know of, was Six Heads.