Without access to traditional outlets for distribution and performance, Canadian punk rock bands were forced to find creative solutions to common challenges.
PRETTY PAPER. Late ‘70s Newfoundland punk band Da Slyme had done a number of recording sessions for local radio, but had never put out a record. In 1980, the band scraped together enough cash to press a small run of vinyl LPs collecting their radio sessions. When the records arrived, though, they realized to their horror that no record sleeves were included. Lacking the funds to have their own printed, the members of Da Slyme rounded up piles of thrift-store LPs, discarded the records, and repurposed the cardboard sleeves, spray-painting their own logo over the original artwork. These one-of-a-kind jackets are now high-priced collectibles.
BREAKING IMMIGRATION LAW IS PUNK! A ferocious touring band from Ottawa, the Action had been booked for a string of dates opening for the Ramones, with the first gig in Detroit. The band was turned away from border crossings in both Sarnia and Windsor, due to incomplete paperwork. Undeterred, the band made their way to the riverfront and found a pilot who agreed to smuggle them across the border in his boat.
MOB RULE. As a young anglophone band coming up in largely French-speaking Montreal, the 222s were excited to be approached by a manager who promised that he and his organization could get his on the radio. Before long, the 222s realized that they had inadvertently signed up with an organized crime syndicate. The “manager” encouraged the band to embrace a more profitable, pop sound and image. The 222s were forced to record their first single in a basement (with a gun reportedly sitting on the kitchen table upstairs), which was, despite their silent objections, a French pop song chosen for them. The gangsters made good on their end—the 222s’ version of “La Poupée qui fait Non” was a hit across Quebec—but the band had broken up before the record even came out.
The Telephone Historical Centre in Edmonton is dedicate to preserving the history of the telephone.