Polaris Prize Winner F---ed Up Turns Spinner Scribe

Here at Spinner, we've got another, slightly selfish reason to cheer Toronto punks F---ed Up's Polaris Prize win last night -- frontman Damian Abraham just happens to be a newly-minted Spinner contributor who recently wrote his first post about his heavy Canuck forebears.

Following the band's Polaris upset Monday night, Abraham noted that those earlier bands helped pave the way for F---d Up's success. "It's such a fertile ground," he told Spinner. "There are so many bands that are underrepresented in the Canadian canon. We are a product of the world we came up in. Like, [Polaris host] Grant Lawrence from the Smugglers, he just gave us the award -- how crazy is that? God knows I'd be an accountant or a lawyer if it weren't for punk rock."

Abraham noted that he and his bandmates came up through Toronto's underground hardcore scene, where young fans were rabidly supportive of their favourite bands. "So much of that is under the radar," he said. "But while it would be great if this award led to more attention [for the genre], if every kid started having a hardcore band, it would kind of suck."

Known for their incendiary live shows, F---ed Up were actually formerly barred from the very building they performed at during last night's gala after the band destroyed a bathroom and caused a near-riot when they performed on MTV Live last year. It's clear the band takes a rather unique approach to performance, and not just because they play what's known to be a rather aggressive, in-your-face brand of music.

In fact, Abraham noted the band is planning to use the $20,000 prize money to fund their annual Christmas benefit album, which traditionally features surprise special guests that normally wouldn't be remotely associated with hardcore -- he says they're hoping for "some really funny guests" this time around. The band is also gearing up for their annual four-night "F---ed Up Fest" over Halloween weekend where they play with several of their favourite bands at various venues across Toronto.

As if things weren't hectic enough for Abraham, he's ready to put on his music-scribe hat for Spinner, and gave us a sneak preview of what readers can look forward to: "I'd love to do a column on music and wrestling," he confessed. "I think wrestling is such a marginalized sport, because it's liked by a lot of douchebags. But Bob Mould wrote scripts for the WWE, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are really into wrestling. There's just a lot of crossover between the two. So that could be really interesting. I'm interested in shedding some light on some of the artists and things people might not know about." Count us interested, too.