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I guess I should apologize for the lack of narration during today’s episode, but I’m on vacation and while I had the foresight to grab the tracks that I wanted to use for the program, I did not grab a mic or pre-record my thoughts, so this time you’re just going to have to read. As I mentioned last week, my older brother Dan is getting married in a couple days and I spent last week’s episode running down our shared musical past up until the end of high school. From them on, our paths started to diverge, he stuck around and went to a local college while I wound up going to a University halfway across the country. While at that college, he’d continually pass me discs recorded by friends that were in bands at the college and some other local bands. Gooch, Flushing Kermit (represented here under their “sell-out” name, Arch Rivals) and The Undecided were just some of the punk flavoured bands that existed in the Southern Manitoba at the time.
In the middle of 2002, I moved back to Manitoba and we wound up sharing an apartment in Winnipeg. Here our tastes converged again until I left for the East a couple years later. Even though I was living halfway across the country again, he’d keep tossing band names my way whenever he came across something that he loved. Some I liked (Maylene & The Sons of Disaster) and others that I wasn’t too fond of (Ten Second Epic). Anyways, this pretty much brings us to today. Dan, thanks for being a great bigger brother and I hope you and your bride to be all the best as you start your new life together.
1. Gooch – It Takes Two from “This is Pop?”
Kind of an early pop/emo band. They later changed their name, hired emo-god Ed Rose (The Appleseed Cast, The Get-Up Kids, Brandtson) as a producer for a great album under the name The Home Team.
2. The Undecided – 2:30
Probably the most well known of this scene. They signed a deal with American label Tooth & Nail records and put out a couple of decent pop/punk albums before being dropped. Dan used to take in a fair number of their local shows and always cheered loudly, especially for this song. I caught one of these shows and they dedicated this song to him.
3. Arch Rivals – 1/2 Way Point from “Live In The Studio”
Dan first told me about these guys when they were performing under the name “Flushing Kermit”. Personally, I like the Flushing Kermit name way better.
4. The Weakerthans – Left & Leaving from “Left & Leaving”
I first heard about this Winnipeg band from Dan a little after Left & Leaving came out. Although they were in a little bit of a different scene than the first three bands I played, they are easily the most well-known of the Winnipeg emo/punk scene.
5. Lucerin Blue – Chorus Of The Birds from “Tales Of The Knife”
We spun this record a lot when we were living together and although they weren’t a local band, they did swing through town a couple times while we were living in Winnipeg. They released an excellent disc with Tooth & Nail records before being dropped. They were in the middle of recording a followup that they funded themselves when they ran out of money and the producer left with what they had previously recorded. Unfortunately, this led to a lot of turmoil with the band breaking up and they never did release that second album.
6. Thousand Foot Krutch – The Alternative Song from “That’s What People Do”
I found this disc in a local independent music store in my Univeristy days. I brought it home and he had to get a copy of it. I think he spun it for a couple solid years. This song can be chalked up to being one of those songs you write early in your career that you think is somewhat intelligent but is eventually seen as juvenile and you wish that you never wrote it.
7. Just – Denver from “Imposter”
FREQ 107 played this track a lot back in the day and the whole disc was pretty catchy. Unfortunately, it was also pretty disposable and lacked depth. Once the catchiness wore off (and it did pretty quickly), it was buried in the CD collection. I had to dig a little to pull it out for this podcast.
8. Alexisonfire – Counter Parts & Number Them
I remember this song more for the video than anything. Nothing like seeing a band playing screamo in the middle of the park while a group of kids from a daycare played around them.
9. Thrice – Image Of The Invisible from “Vheissu”
More screamo/post-hardcore. They had a song on one of the NHL video games that we played a lot back then. I still can’t listen to No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age without seeing an image in my mind of a player going in for a breakaway.
10. Ten Second Epic – Boys Will Be Boys from “Count Yourself In”
This is one recommendation that I just couldn’t get behind. Looking back now, I’m liking the track. I’ll let you judge for yourself.
11. The Almost – Say This Sooner from “Southern Weather”
Just a great opening track. I’ve already used this in a podcast but it fit perfectly here as well. Just one of those tracks that can really get you energized.
12. Maylene & The Sons of Disaster – Step Up (I’m On It) from “III”
The latest in his recommendations. Southern Rock and bluegrass mixed with Screamo and hardcore. Definitely a unique style and tons of fun. If that description sounds intriguing to you, I’d definitely recommend checking this disc out. If screaming was more my thing, this album would definitely in my top 10 this year.
Thanks for listening and I’ll be back next week with a more normal show. I’ll probably play something from the new Headlights record as I’ve been spinning it a lot this week. Also, there should be a few discs waiting for me when I get back from this vacation.
Jared
