Spinner

Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk -- Exclusive Excerpt of Sam Sutherland's New Book

Sam Sutherland — 2012-10-10T17:30:00 00:00

Filed under: News, Exclusive, Twisted Tales, Book Club, Music Appreciation, New Releases

Bev Davies

Sam Sutherland, a Toronto writer who also multi-tasks at AUX TV and in the band Junior Battles, dug deep into the squats and clubs in search of Canada's forgotten punk past.

When he emerged, he'd written Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk, which was recently released by ECW Press.

To celebrate the book's release Sutherland will be doing a marquee interview tonight with Fucked Up's Damian Abraham at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern (it's free, too). The pair are also promising the appearance of a long-forgotten group of punk heroes performing at the event.

In order to psyche everyone up for the inevitable old punker pogo that'll happen tonight, Sutherland and ECW have gratiously provided Spinner with an excerpt of Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk.

12-Hour 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' Marathon Boasts Indie Rockers, Rappers + Klezmer

Sam Sutherland — 2011-10-03T17:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Exclusive, Guest Blogger

Sam Sutherland for AOL

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is a dusk til dawn art exhibit that happens once a year in Toronto. It's a concept that began in France, today taking place in cities all over the world at different times throughout the year. From 7PM until 7AM, hundreds of performances, installations, and galleries pop up everywhere, from alleys to shopping malls to movie theaters.

Oct. 1 marked the sixth annual Nuit Blanche in Toronto, which featured the much-hyped 'A Brief History of Rebellion,' or, to many, 'The 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' Thing.' The concept was simple -- musicians from Toronto were going to perform the Nirvana classic 144 times in a row, for 12 straight hours. Organized by local media/arts collective Juicebox, the event gained momentum thanks to support from members of F---ed Up, Tokyo Police Club, Alexisonfire-affiliated Gallows, and the other players who took the stage.

Sam Sutherland, an organizer of the event and co-founder of Juicebox (as well as Spinner contributor), offers a full recap of the festivities that took place at Toronto Underground Cinema, an old Chinese movie theater buried deep below street level in the city's downtown. Shockingly, the 12 hours flew by, thanks to some surprise appearances, mash-ups, and the occasional klezmer band.

Anti-Flag Feel 'Let Down' by the Obama Administration -- NXNE

Sam Sutherland — 2011-06-17T14:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Exclusive, Q + A

Ollie Millington, Redferns

Hailing from Pittsburgh, Pa., Anti-Flag released their first split seven-inch in 1993, going on to Fat Wreck Chords superiority, a brief stint on major label RCA, and a return to indie punk turf with their most recent full-length, 2009's 'The People or the Gun.' Outspoken and politically charged, Anti-Flag have always taken an aggressive activist role in their music and performances, working regularly with groups like Amnesty International and PETA, while preaching themes of anti-homophobia, anti-misogyny and anti-racism from the stage.

Recently, vocalist and bassist Chris #2 began hitting the road hard with a new side project, White Wives (which also includes Anti-Flag guitarist Chris Head), while also recording a seven-inch of old-school hardcore with a second new band, Wharf Rats. Somewhere between that, a European Anti-Flag tour, and a stint at this year's NXNE, Spinner caught up with #2 to chat about Obama and X-rated tweets.

Given how active you've been recently with side projects, has there been any progress towards new Anti-Flag material?

Actually, we've been writing the entire time. It's kind of cool, because we own our own studio, so we have the ability to flesh out ideas and then come back to them. Even when we're just rehearsing for tour, if someone has an idea, we're always running through the studio. So it's just a matter of hitting "record" to capture that idea. We actually have ten or eleven songs already written. Some of them are about 80 percent tracked, some are 100 percent tracked. Most are 30 percent tracked.

OFF! Claim to Be the 'Guided by Voices of Independent Punk Rock' -- NXNE

Sam Sutherland — 2011-06-16T18:05:00 00:00

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, News, Exclusive, Q + A

Vice Records

OFF! formed when the last Circle Jerks record fell apart in the middle of the recording process and is the latest forum for hardcore legend Keith Morris to spit vitriol and inspire a new generation to grow out their dreadlocks and question musical and societal conventions. They're also a spectacularly fun band that has managed to cross the boundaries of punk and hardcore and gain fans from across the musical spectrum, as everyone from jaded indie bloggers to Black Flag "Chavo-era" purists find themselves drawn in by the band's honest, raw, and direct sound.

Flanked by an equally inspiring set of musicians, Morris is headed into a pretty fun summer with OFF!; we spoke with guitarist Dimitri Coats (also of Burning Brides), who, along with Morris, shares songwriting credits on OFF!'s 'First Four EPs,' which he also produced.

So where are you right now?

At home. We're about to get on a plane tomorrow to go to Toronto to play with the Descendents and F---ed Up. We have a few more shows in Canada, and then we're doing the States with Dinosaur Jr., who are playing 'Bug.' And Henry Rollins is on a few of those dates, doing spoken word, and I think talking to Dinosaur Jr. before they play.

Juno Awards Red Carpet, Spinner-style -- Exclusive Video

Sam Sutherland — 2011-03-29T13:40:00 00:00

Filed under: Video, Awards, Junos

Spinner may have been squeezed between a local Rogers TV affiliate and a lady with a big Russian hat from Dose.ca, but we may nonetheless pushed our way into the media scrum-slash-pig pen of the Juno Awards Red Carpet for the star-studded and indie-loaded 40th annual celebration of all things musical, Canadian and Drake-related.

Fighting for a few futile seconds with the big stars ("Shaniiiaaaahhhh!"), coming up with new categories with Chromeo, brushing off Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew to talk to Blue Rodeo, mending fences between Metric and F---ed Up, and seeing the top of Neil Young's head were just some of the highlights of an hour of freezing cold handshakes, rapid-fire Q&As and big hugs from Cancer Bats. Watch, and be amazed!

Metric and F---ed Up's Damian Abraham Bury Their Polaris Beef at Junos

Sam Sutherland — 2011-03-28T11:50:00 00:00

Filed under: News, Exclusive, Awards, Junos

CARAS/iPhoto

When Metric vocalist Emily Haines tweeted "Wow, Popcore takes the Polaris prize! Surprise!" following her band's 2009 Polaris loss to Toronto art-hardcore outfit F---ed Up, it ignited the kind of full-fledged musical beef that Canadians so rarely get to indulge in.

Haines and F---ed Up vocalist (and host of MuchMusic's 'The Wedge') Damian Abraham took to regularly slagging one another and their respective bands in the media. But the ethereal magic of the 2011 Juno red carpet appears to have led the two musicians to reconcile.

After Haines opened up about a photo-op with Abraham earlier in the night, and jokingly bestowed F---ed Up with a new Juno award ("S---kicker of the Year"), Abraham, himself, blew the roof off their hug-filled reconciliation.

"I've met Jimmy [Shaw], and so we said hello to each other," Abraham tells Spinner of his red carpet run-in with Metric's guitarist. "Emily looked over, and I just wondered, 'How do you play this?' We've both publicly trashed each other, so where do you go from there?

Los Campesinos! Go Gift Shopping -- Exclusive Video

Sam Sutherland — 2010-12-22T15:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Video, Exclusive

In the spirit of the holiday season, Spinner took Welsh indie-popsters Los Campesinos! deep into the heart of Toronto's bargain mecca Honest Ed's. Occupying a full city block, and using enough electricity to power a small village, Honest Ed's hawks everything from ugly shower curtains to hideous luggage. So with holidays approaching, it was time to go shopping for the least pretty presents we could find.

After regaling us with tales of their fave childhood toys, the girls headed inside the cavernous department store and managed to unearth some real monstrosities as far as gifts go: Grand Champion miniature toy horses, an "educative" foam measurement kit and something called Doctor Superior Nurse were all plucked from Ed's jumbled aisles.

Hollerado Explain How They Made Their Mind-Boggling 'Americanarama' Video

Sam Sutherland — 2010-12-08T12:00:00 00:00

Filed under: Video, Exclusive, Awards, Junos

Hollerado

On the heels of having Hollerado's how'd-they-do-that viral video 'Americanarama' named Spinner's best music video of 2010, the imaginative Toronto indie rockers sat down with us to offer a picture-in-picture video commentary track on the unique challenges and preparing for and filming one of the more ambitious videos of the year. A video, we might add, that has already garnered more than 683,100 hits since it debuted Oct. 3, and racked up a head-turning 39,000 hits after just three days online.

Sand blown directly in their eyes! Blood-soaked hands! Nudity! This video commentary has -- or at least discusses -- it all.

!!! Go Halloween Costume Shopping -- Exclusive Video

Sam Sutherland — 2010-10-28T14:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Video, Exclusive

!!! are dedicated to Halloween. The New York dance-rockers once spent an entire day before an October 31st show gluing tiny pieces of mirror to all of their clothes and stockings to be used, obviously, as weird disco-ball masks. Plus, they rip a mean cover of 'Thriller.'

So Spinner recently took vocalist Nic Offer to a costume shop in Toronto's Dufferin Mall to discuss the finer points of dressing up for Halloween -- from the ins and outs of sexy lady costumes to the irony of dressing up like a designer drug.

The Weakerthans Were Consumed by Live DVD, Finally Writing New Music

Sam Sutherland — 2010-04-06T15:30:00 00:00

Filed under: Concerts and Tours, Exclusive, Movies, Canada

Fresh off the recent release of their first-ever live CD/DVD, 'Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre,' the Weakerthans are finally ready to focus on writing material for the follow-up to 2007's acclaimed 'Reunion Tour.'

"We were surprisingly really consumed with this live project for the last year," says guitarist Stephen Carroll. "It was a bit of a beast. I thought, 'Wow, we're going to make a live record! That's what we'll do this year! It's going to fun and easy!' And it turned into a ball of twine with no end."

Plans to write new Weakerthans material were continually shelved as the live project demanded more and more of the band's time. "None of us had ever mixed anything in 5.1 surround sound before. None of us even have 5.1 stereo systems. That's where things started to go sideways for us," laughs Carroll.

Matthew Good Blames Liquor Laws for Killing Vancouver Music Scene

Sam Sutherland — 2009-11-06T17:15:00 00:00

Filed under: News, Exclusive, Canada

Matthew Good is adding his name to a growing list of Vancouver musicians fed up with the stringent liquor laws preventing venues from keeping their doors open to new, independent musical talent.

In recent years, the west coast city's move to shut down smaller bars and clubs has choked Vancouver's punk and indie scene, with strict requirements relating to security and hours of operation making it increasingly hard for venues that don't cater to mainstream audiences to stay open.

"I was lucky enough to be pretty much the last performer at the Town Pump before it stopped being a live music venue," Good, who titled his just-released album 'Vancouver,' tells Spinner. "There was the Cruel Elephant, Gastown Music Hall, Smiling Buddha and now [they] have evaporated. There could be a bunch of guys jamming in a basement in Burnaby that could be the next Explosions in the Sky and who's going to give them a chance? Who's going to let them play?"

Lullabye Arkestra: You Oughta Know

Sam Sutherland — 2009-09-01T18:00:00 00:00

Filed under: You Oughta Know, Canada

There's something enchanting about two people in love playing dirty rock 'n' roll songs. Justin Small and Kat Taylor-Small are Lullabye Arkestra, a band born of a mutual love of heavy music and each other -- and their latest release, the bare-bones 'Threats/Worship' on Vice Records, is a swaggering, half-hour testament to both.

Formed in 2001, the band pumped out a self-released CD within a year, but waited until 2006 to issue their proper debut full-length, 'Ampgrave.' Released on legendary Canadian indie Constellation Records -- Small's other band, Do Make Say Think, remain one of the label's most lauded acts -- the record was praised for its mix of retro heavy metal, gospel and Motown soul. Unfortunately, its scope proved problematic as soon as the band left the studio.

"'Ampgrave' took almost two years," Small tells Spinner while holed up with his wife/bandmate at their rehearsal space working on a Napalm Death cover. "We did one session, we scrapped songs, we re-wrote songs, we had horn players ..."