Back on Drugs
Some Party is a newsletter sharing the latest in independent Canadian rock'n'roll, curated more-or-less weekly by Adam White. Each edition explores punk, garage, psych, and otherwise uncategorizable indie rock, drawing lines from proto to post and taking some weird diversions along the way.
Jim's Plumbing and ElectricalThe Business
Watch "Back on Drugs" on YouTube - Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Members of underground Ottawa legends New Swears recently resurfaced as Jim's Plumbing and Electrical. While the name's new, the band retains the best qualities of their predecessor. While New Swears' party-ready punk often felt like it was on the verge of spinning out of control, that choice was deliberate. The band proved, despite their brand, almost effortlessly tight. New Swears played with a kind of hard-won, inter-member telepathy that comes from years in the trenches. While Jim's Plumbing takes a few stylistic detours (less gas, more grass), the shuffle hasn't thrown out what worked.
Over four songs The Business finds the new outfit tight and polished. They're less hitched to any hyphenated subgenre of punk this time out, instead embracing a relaxed 70s barroom sound that gives their indulgences more time to breathe. The self-aware sleaze of their old outfit is still deeply ingrained in their DNA, but it's taken a shower and is now wearing a clean shirt. You can never quite shake the smoke, though.
The record's lead single feels like a statement of intent. "Back on Drugs" arrived alongside a wonderfully entertaining video based on a debaucherous slice of Canadian sports history. The band explained:
"In June 1990, the Canadian Government released the Dubin Inquiry, a federally sanctioned investigation of the use of drugs and banned substances in elite athletics.
Sparked by Olympic Sprinter Ben Johnson's bomb-drop of a disqualification after winning gold in the Men's 100m dash at the Seoul Olympics. This government publication also details the tale of the 1988 Men's Olympic Weightlifting team's rampant drug related issues.
Before leaving Canada for the games, the team submitted urine samples checking their systems for banned substances. Some of these screenings were found to be inconclusive, triggering necessary retesting. Unfortunately, some of these athletes had continued their steroid use immediately after their initial submissions. This caused a panic amongst the team leading two ingenious strategies. First, the consumption of as much beer as possible to flush the steroids out of their systems. The second, buying catheters to inject urine into their bladders to be expelled during testing. Neither of these plans worked."
Jim's Plumbing and Electrical plays as a five-piece here. Alex Jakimczuk recorded, mixed, and mastered the new material.
New Swears last released Night Mirror in 2019 through Dine Alone Records. In the years since, members of the group took an alt-country turn with Scorpion King and issued a series of scene-rooted video projects through the Clubhouse Recording Club.
Neil Haverty"Man Down"
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Neil Haverty's been through the wringer. The narrative arc of indie bands, particularly esoteric late-2000s regional acts, is often brief. While it's not surprising that Bruce Peninsula spent years off the grid, their absence goes beyond the usual "got a real job" narrative. While that's indeed part of the story — Haverty's spent a decade composing for film and television; he's also spent the better part of that time battling leukemia.
The diagnosis and his subsequent struggles factor heavily into "Man Down," Neil's first solo single in over ten years. The vocalist's brooding growl should be instantly familiar to anyone who followed Bruce Peninsula's striking string of rootsy, gospel-tinged records. On the sombre track, he grapples with the messy reality of healing, addressing the clumsy fits-and-starts of recovery and re-prioritizing a life:
"'Man Down' reminds me how close I came to death, and how sure I was that it would fundamentally change my life. But the truth is, most things stayed the same. The ideals I formed while sick - about living differently, more intentionally - they blur and come in and out of focus with time. This song wrestles with that realization: that survival doesn't always mean transformation, and that clinging to our old patterns is as human as anything else."
Haverty recorded with Bruce Peninsula drummer Leon Taheny (Owen Pallett, Austra) producing. "Man Down" also features string arrangements by Merganzer's Mika Posen (Timber Timbre, Jennifer Castle). Among the track's delicate bed of keys and analog synth, the recording incorporates field recordings captured at the Museo Galileo in Florence. Phil Demetro mastered the single.
Bruce Peninsula last issued No Earthly Sound in 2020, their third full-length following 2011's Open Flames.
Bologna Colorado"Get to the Point"
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Halifax rockers Bologna Colorado sound like a band out of time on their new single "Get To The Point." The generous take is that it feels like a long-lost proto-punk gem, a lightning-in-a-bottle product of amped-up youth brimming with sneering grit and overblown guitars. Realistically, the track would fit perfectly into the early-2000s garage revival - that short-lived moment when the mainstream woke up to bands like The Hives as they scrambled to repeat the success of the Strokes and White Stripes. It's also the era when a naive, college-aged version of me held out hope that the universe would finally award the New Bomb Turks for doing it faster and better for decades, BUT I DIGRESS.
Wherever you place it, "Get to the Point" is a visceral thrill, heavy on attitude and gleefully absent of deeper meaning. Speaking to The Coast, bassist Adam Otmar acknowledges, "it's just kind of a loud scream song...there's not much to it." While it may be a trifle, the recording finds the band at their sonic best, reaching a level of crisp, kinetic fidelity that their past work only hinted at. Frontman Cole Chalifoux notes that the band's earlier records, 2024's No Refund and 2023's Entertainment Section, contain, by contrast, "songs that have a lot of meaning that we take very seriously."
Formed in 2022, Bologna Colorado features Cole Chalifoux on vocals and guitar, Adam Otmar on bass, Emily Denesyk on keys, and Will Adams on drums. The new track follows their first two records and November's one-off single, "Forget My Ex." Chalifoux also records solo as George Mooring.
Man Made HillDelicious Logo
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More than twenty albums in Hamilton's Man Made Hill remains impressively elusive, delivering askew outsider art that's ever enigmatic and, more often than not, gently threatening. The newly delivered Delicious Logo is the second entry in a new era that finds Randy Gagne plying their craft in a professional studio. Mirroring the assembly of 2022's Mirage Repair, this latest album again sees the artist working with producer Jeremy Greenspan (Junior Boys, Jessy Lanza).
The twelve-song set is the artist's first with Toronto's Telephone Explosion. In a writeup by Kevin Hainey, the label boasts "a tsunami windfall of sleazy synth pop, jagged funk, and sinister existential disco that veers in and out of comprehension." You can see the glitchy fever-dream video for the lead single "Trophy Shop" on YouTube, along with a visualizer for the unsettling love song "Never Give Up."
The set features appearances from experimental Russian-Estonian artist Lolina (fka Inga Copeland, ex-Hype Williams), percussionist Sean Dunal (Sexy Merlin), and Allie Blumas (ALMA, ex a.k.a Alma, ex-DOOMSQUAD). The Katz sisters from Hamilton staple Sourpussy sing lead on a cover of "Best Times," the 1986 theme from the cult Canadian sorority slasher flick Killer Party.
DealbreakerKing Size
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Welland punks Dealbreaker celebrated their first anniversary with King Size, a digital/cassette compilation of their inaugural studio work. The set gathers material from the Run It Again and Quick Split EPs, along with the recent "Power Moves" single. The latter recently debuted as the theme song for comedian Mike Burns' podcast of the same name.
Dealbreaker came together last year, featuring longtime Welland scene members Connor Johnstone (vocals), Nick Giammarco and Bil Huffman (guitars), Josh Van Hezewyk (bass), and Scott Brady (drums). There are some deep-cut local roots in that group. Giammarco, in particular, played in Canyon Carvers, who seemed to open every other Niagara show for a while. Johnstone's visible with the Quite Alright design studio, working with a raft of Ontario bands. Dealbreaker is, in the best sense of the word, a garage band through and through - longtime friends convening on weekends to churn out brash songs with constant momentum, one foot in the 90s, and shout-along choruses written with the audience in mind. The band dove into their backstory in a recent chat at Punknews with my pal Em Moore.
Look for the group in July at Buddies Fest in Tillsonburg, Ontario, appearing alongside ALL, Dillinger Four, The Flatliners, Greg Norton and more.
The TenenbaumsIt's time to bring shame…
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Raucous Ottawa punk trio The Tenenbaums recently returned with It's time to bring shame, a new six-song EP and their first collected work since 2020. The digital set arrived on May 7, five years to the day since the loss of their bandmate, Mike V, and the album serves as a tribute to their fallen comrade. Mike fronted the punk act Muelkik, which later evolved into Flaws with members of the Tenenbaums.
The band (Ky, Sheesh, and Alex) recorded outside of Winchester, Ontario, using Mike's old gear. Stefan Jurewicz mixed and mastered the set. Despite the sombre pretext, the EP has a wild, lo-fi charm and boundless energy. That crystallizes in the EP's minute-long midway mark - a breakneck hardcore track with a title so gloriously unwieldy (and on-brand for this newsletter) that I'm throwing it in a blockquote for posterity:
"Turned out a punk is a great podcast but the fact that they haven't had John K. Samson on is really disappointing. I even emailed them and never got a reply and it's just really disappointing. Although, I hear he doesn't do interviews..."
It's time to bring shame follows the group's early 2020s set God damn it, you've got to be kind.
Pig Pen"Rabid Beach" / "Mental Mentality"
Watch "Rabid Beach" on YouTube - Preview and purchase at Bandcamp
Don't let me bamboozle you into thinking this next update is timely; it's most certainly not. When I'm this late to publish, I tend to throw things out rather than strive for completeness, but there are so many Some Party regulars at play here that I'd be remiss not to include it.
Long before The Bear and even his viral online presence, Matty Matheson was the executive chef at Toronto's Parts & Labour. The restaurant became a hub for the city's underground music scene, with its regular basement shows. Despite his place at that epicentre, music has sat mainly on the periphery of Matty's brand since his rise to fame. No longer. The bombastic personality dives back in headfirst with his supergroup Pig Pen. The new band finds Matheson on vocals backed by Alexisonfire's Wade MacNeil on guitar, the inseparable Outfit brothers Ian and Daniel Romano on drums and guitar, and bassist Tommy Major (Tommy and the Commies, Young Guv). The band played their rowdy debut show at Sneaky Dees in late April (you can see Stephen McGill's shots at Punknews), and an album out later this month.
The band's debut full-length, Mental Madness, arrives June 27 through Flatspot Records, showcasing a classically-minded set of tough-as-nails East Coast hardcore. It's not Matty's first time embodying that role - he played in the late 90s Niagara hardcore band Hanging Hearts - but it's certainly the first time he's done so at his current level of fame. The group came together during the pandemic, writing 10 songs in a day and recording them the next.
You can hear "Mental Mentality" and "Rabid Beach" streaming now, with the latter celebrated in an animated video by Jesi Jordan. On the dark subject matter, Matty commented:
"You can be having a beautiful day, surrounded by friends, and your brain can continuously ruin it. No matter how good or bad your life is, you can still hate yourself. I've got to ask myself why am I feeling the ways I'm feeling?"
The band offers friendship as a solution, with Matty noting "Our love of each other is what makes it." Daniel Romano shared that sentiment in a press release:
"There's a sense of community in that hardcore scene we came up in, and those early enlightenments, they stay with you."
Given the members' busy day jobs, Pig Pen shows are likely to be few and far between. Your next chance to see them will be at Birmingham, Alabama's Furnace Fest this October.
Daniel Romano's Outfit"Even If It's Obscure" / "Sweet Dew Of The Kingdom"
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Concurrent with the Pig Pen news, several of those same players issued a new two-song single as Daniel Romano's Outfit. "Even If It's Obscure" and "Sweet Dew Of The Kingdom" landed as a limited edition 7" through You've Changed Records. The set finds the band in full psychedelic pop mode. Their florid announcement leans into that:
"We, Outfit, present this collection of mystical protest songs at forty five rotations per minute. The first side holds in its weaving harmonies the ancient and simple plea to honour the mysterious actuality of yourself and yourothers. Listen deeply, For love is of its own accord. The second side functions as a reminder that material and linear behaviours are actively against nature and ultimately fall of their own weight. It is a call to celebrate wonder and to resist distracted, sedentary 'pleasures.' Truth moves, so it must be followed. Feed on the fruit not on the flower."
The tracks feature the band as a quartet, with the aforementioned Daniel, Ian, and Tommy in their usual roles, joined by Carson McHone on percussion and vocals. As a big fan of Tommy and the Commies, it's nice to hear the Major take such a prominent vocal role in the pre-chorus of "Sweet Dew."
The band recorded these tracks at Red Telephone in Sweden, with Kenneth Roy Meehan assisting in the mix. The songs are the first new material we've heard from The Outfit since last year's full-length Too Hot To Sleep.
Steven Lambke and Jimmie KilpatrickFriendship Traces
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Speaking of You've Changed Records, a pair of the label's core artists recently united for a collaborative side-project. Steven Lambke and Jimmie Kilpatrick recently unveiled Friendship Traces, an instrumental album that promises:
"[a] post-dub, post-minimalist, post-guitar, post-mixtape playground of bespoke drum samples, melodica, and distorted bass."
While the artists are playing in a relaxed realm, they stress the intentionality of each decision. Counter to the increasing trend in machine-generated "chill out" music, the artists state that "even at its most abstract it remains inescapably engaged with song."
The record finds Jimmie establishing a base with drum programming and synthesizers, with Lambke adding melodica, bass, and additional live percussion. Lambke commented on the back-and-forth nature of the songwriting:
"They arrived like letters. What's in the envelope? Beats and sounds, falling out like glitter. A conversation began, question and response. I played the Fender bass and the Suzuki melodion over the tracks that Jimmie sent. The bass as grounding, the melodion as air, air in a small room in front of a microphone, all the clicks and clacks of plastic and my breathing. The simplicity of the tools, the slippery-ness of their position, half-instrument, half-toy, reminds me to play, reminds me of a shared presence, a 'thereness' in the world."
Jimmie worked with an Elektron Digitakt drum sampler to generate the bed of each track, seeking to craft a palette of acoustic, rather than synthesized, sounds. He shared:
"I was thinking about acousmatic music while we were working on this record. Music that is created through divorcing sounds from their original context via tape-editing-studio-techniques originated in the 1950s. These techniques include slowing sounds down, speeding sounds up, playing sounds backwards, layering sounds and copying and repeating sounds. This is how I created all the drum sounds on the record. What sounds like a bass drum might have originally been the sound of a knock on the door, that was slowed, filtered, cut up and manipulated using attack, sustain, decay and release envelopes."
The ten-song set is available digitally or as a limited run of 50 cassettes.
The album arrives on the heels of Kilpatrick's new full-length Jimmie, his first solo outing since shedding his Shotgun Jimmie moniker. Lambke, of Constantines fame, last issued Volcano Volcano in 2022.
