Social Disorder rule the earth

Another summer of debauchery had passed, our band had a demo tape, and our bassist had moved to British Columbia. I had also started growing my hair again, so I slightly resembled my grade 7 school picture. Limey was now in our high school starting grade 9, so he would normally call on me in the morning and we'd walk to school together, or skate. Although I had a few circles of friends, some of those circles had expanded. I still made a point to produce as many copies of our demo as I could and distribute them amongst my circles of friends. I really didn't care about making money off the release, I just wanted to spread our sound and get us out there. I also had recently discovered there was a band with a very similar name to ours, Social Distortion. At this point I really didn't care, our styles of music were completely different, and we had come such a long way to find a name we absolutely cherished, that we weren't about to change it again.

I was quite stoked when John, the drummer for E.B.S. told me he actually liked our tape, that was a great compliment and seemed to make the entire effort worthwhile. Years later in the mid 90's I didn't even own a copy of our demo anymore. I asked John if I could have his copy and he complied. I nearly fell over laughing when I saw what he had written on the tape: Social Disorder rule the earth! In the new millennium I was able to rip the tape to my computer and share it online so it could forever be immortalized.

Fresh into September of 1989 it seemed like any other typical school year, I did not know that it wouldn't be. If I had the ability to foresee into the future I would have done a lot of things very differently. Unfortunately I don't have that ability, and unbeknownst to me, I was going to be in for a long, rough haul this year, with many tough obstacles to climb and overcome. I was also unaware of the fact of how rotten of a human being I would temporarily become, and the trials and tribulations I would have to face for my actions. Strap on your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Be sure to check out the Social Disorder demo tape as well as some new and improved versions of a few songs Jerry and I re did a couple years ago.

www.myspace.com/socialdisorder

Wow! looks like mypace removed the old demo. It was all of the songs inside one track. I'll see if I can sort something out, there are 3 other tracks & video content still in the meantime.

Tales From The Siboney

After learning where the Siboney Club was via the Day-Glo Abortions concert, and already knowing how to navigate my way around the city via the Go Bus and TTC, I managed to take in a few more stellar shows during the year of 1989, and it seemed all of the thrash and hardcore shows were held at the Siboney, which to me was the greatest venue of all time. For the time being as far as this story goes.

The first show I went to after Day-Glo was New York speed freaks Nuclear Assault. None of my friends had money to go, and the ones that did have the money to go didn't have the permission from their parents to go. I had seen the video "Brainwashed" which was enough to sell me on buying Nuclear Assault's latest release "Survive" from the Record Peddler much prior to this, so I was going into the show familiar with the music.

Their bass player was none other than former Anthrax bassist and S.O.D. bassist Dan Lilker, and he was the first person I remember seeing when I stepped in the club, mainly because he's almost 7 feet tall and his head was practically touching the ceiling when he stepped on stage briefly to drop his gear off. I dipped into the can to take a quick piss and to my surprise there was Dan! I felt like I was in the presence of a thrash god, but I kept my mouth shut instead of playing the annoying fan boy.

I don't even remember who the opening acts were, and it didn't even matter as I was there to see the Assault, and they ripped the crowd a new one with a solid performance. Their singer John's voice sounded just as screechy and intense live as it did on record. I thrashed in the pit solo for the entire set, and the energy and vibe in the room was just incredible. I'll never forget on the bus home that night I fell asleep and missed my stop at Bramalea City Centre. When the driver awoke me I was at the end of the line at the Go Station downtown Brampton, a good hour walk from home. Craig the guitarist from my band had given me $20 to buy him a shirt which I never got due to prices being higher than the funds he had given me, and I ended up having to spend the money to take a taxi home as to not miss curfew and avoid an ass whooping.

Another band I was fortunate enough to catch at the Siboney in 89' was none other than Sacred Reich, who had just released their "Surf Nicaragua" EP in late 88'. The Reich hailed from Arizona and they were all big stocky dudes who just ripped shit up with impeccable speed and tightness. I actually went to this gig with Pooh & Mike from E.B.S. and if memory serves correct there was an unknown 4th person with us, perhaps the estranged part time EBS bassist Paul Lutz...or maybe it was Waller...anyhow...When we were walking from the Ossington subway station to the club, we noticed Jonny, the singer of Sudden Impact, was walking there as well just a few paces ahead of us. Here I was star struck while the EBS boys were cracking one liners out loud about him! Awkward!

The Siboney was ram packed that night as per usual and the action in the pit was a bit frantic. A lot of the crowd were straight up metal heads who didn't quite understand the concept of moshing, they were more so just running around the circle pushing, punching & kicking people.Half way through the set we all had clearly gotten fed up with that shit, so we stood just outside the circle and watched Sacred Reich tear the house down. Unbeknownst to me, Mike was actually observing the pit to see who the dickheads were fucking every bodies fun up. Mike tapped me on the shoulder and shouted in my ear above the blaring music "WATCH THIS!" The next thing I knew he shoved one of the perpetrators as he was passing us in the circle and the dude went careening inwards on his ass, while everyone in the pit inadvertently trampled him.

When the dude finally collected his marbles he came and stood on the sidelines near us, then he started glaring at each of us one at a time trying to figure out who had pushed him. Needless to say we were all having a hard time keeping straight faces. When the guy finally decided to rejoin the action Mike did it again, only this time the guy came at us enraged. A few words were exchanged and that was the end of it, but my adrenalin was absolutely through the roof now. With a mosh pit right in front of me the outlet for it was obvious. I thrashed on until the night was gone, then headed home pondering what act I might catch next at my beloved Siboney Club...

Hell's Big Apple

Today I am slightly backtracking in the story once again to mention a very important happening I overlooked writing about, the Epileptic Brain Surgeons going into the studio to record their first real demo tape, I was fortunate enough to be the kid who was in the right place at the right time. The boys in E.B.S. knew I had recently acquired a brand new drum set, and since McCuish's was a tad bit on the beaten and battered side, they asked me very kindly if they could use my drum set for the recording session, being their number one fan I instantly said yes to the idea. I loved E.B.S. and I wanted their recording to sound the best it possibly could.

My only request to the guys was that I would be allowed to be present in the studio to witness the whole recording process. Musicplex, which was down the street from my house, now had a recording studio in the back of the store known as "Studio A" and that's where all the magic would take place. I met the guys there with my drum kit and we hauled all of the gear inside where we met the would-be producer for the project Archie Hachey, he was an older man who didn't look like the type to listen to hardcore, but none the less he was friendly, easy to work with, and mon judgemental despite the genre of music. In fact by the end of it he may of been a new fan!

For myself being a 16 year old punk and getting to see how the inside of a professional recording studio operated, I was in bliss. This was a dream come true for me. I felt like a big part of something I was merely spectating, mind you without my drum set the recording may have been an absolute bust. Then the guys asked me to step in the booth with them to do some back up vocals, I was now REALLY apart of this and not just a spectator with a loaner drum kit. I was honoured to be shouting "take a bath" into the mic during "soap" from what I remember we all did gang backup vocals in "Screaming' Boogies" as well.

Ultimately it was just really cool to be there and see what recording was all about. I never knew about individual tracking, punching in, or any other tricks of the trade. By the end of the weekend I found it incredible and fascinating to see the project come together full circle. Now all we had to do was sit back patiently and wait for the finished product.

I'll never forget that day either, I went to see Pooh while he was working at Sears so I could get my complimentary copy of the demo, my payment for letting them use my drums. I was a bit taken back by the cover and title of the demo, but he explained how they couldn't come up with anything, so in a last minute ditch effort the boys collaborated and cut random things out of magazines and made a collage of an image, even the demo title was done in this same fashion, "Hells big apple bites back upon family brunch" Geniuses, I thought in my mind. As I opened the tape and started skimming through the special thanks in the liner notes, I just about shit 10 bricks when I saw MY name in there in all it's glory "Kevin T" Even though my last name was abbreviated to a simple initial I still couldn't get over the fact that I had made liner notes on a real tape! At age 16 that was a pretty big fucking deal!

Over the years whenever the tape was mentioned, it has always been a pleasure for me to tell the tale of my involvement. I don't think the guys in the band really knew how honoured and privileged I felt at the time. It's been amazing telling friends I made years after the fact "Yeah they used my drums on that!" I never looked at it like if it wasn't for me the demo would have been a failure, because that wouldn't be true, they would have got it done by hook or crook one way or the other. It has always just been a great feeling knowing I helped some friends out in a time of need, and that a little piece of me is immortalized in what possibly might be one of the most important releases to ever come out of our hometown of Brampton, and to me that is a true thing of beauty...

http://epilepticbrainsurgeons.bandcamp.com/album/hells-big-apple-bites-back-upon-family-brunch

White Rock

The summer of 1989 was chock full of skateboarding, parties, alcohol, marijuana, & girls. As per usual the summer seemed to flash by in the blink of an eye. With all the great, fun things going on, it was only natural that a negative element introduced itself to react against the positives, thus somewhat balancing the furies.

Our bass player "Vans" announced to us that come September he would be moving out to White Rock British Columbia with his family. We were all saddened by the fact that our band would no longer have a bass player, but ultimately we were terribly upset to lose such a great friend. I decided that before Vans left we had to document the music we made via recording.

During the last week of July we headed up to "The Travelling Musician" a local music store that dealt with renting and selling musical equipment. We inquired about renting a four track recorder, and we were quite surprised to learn it would only cost us a total of $100 to rent one for a month! With five guys in our band that was only $20 a piece. Over the course of the week we each rounded up our $20.00 and on August 1st, 1989, my mother drove us there to pick it up. As I was paying the clerk, he regrettably informed me that he could not for the life of him find the instruction manual for the four track. I guess he felt bad so he never charged us taxes.

I literally spent almost the entire month of August learning my way around the four track and figuring out how it worked, which I managed to do just in time before the final weekend of August crept upon us. We now had 3 days, Friday, Saturday & Sunday, to record our demo. It wasn't going to be an easy task, but I was determined to pull it off.

We recorded all the drum tracks first using 4 microphones running through a 4 channel mixer, that way the drums would only occupy one track. From there we recorded all of Vans' bass tracks just to assure that they were done before he left. Once that was wrapped up we set mics up on Jerry & Craig's guitar amps, and once again ran them through the mixer so they only occupied one track. Once the music was all said and done there was still one track free for my vocals. When it came time to record me I requested that all the guys leave me in privacy. I never had performance issues jamming, but I was very self conscious about then only hearing my voice, as only I could hear the music through the headphones. I nailed all my vocal tracks and we were finished with one day to spare.

I spent the final day attempting to mix the recordings, then I dubbed off a master copy and we now officially had a demo tape, even though in our minds we knew we no longer had a bass player. That fact didn't really matter to us, we knew we would continue on as a band, we were just happy we got to immortalize the five of us doing our thing. We partied hearty that weekend too as it would be the last time we saw Vans. Our goodbyes were extremely difficult, but we dealt with them, handed Vans a copy of the demo, and that was the last time I ever saw him...

Boots

That hero was my best friend Julie, A.K.A. "Jules" A.K.A. "Boots" although Julie had done her fair share of rolling, I guess she was fed up with Maggot. The fact she had rolled a good friend of Julie's was enough for her to march right up to Maggot and call her out. They exchanged words and Maggot readily accepted Julie's offer to step outside.

As they walked off side by side out the mall doors by my beloved Hex Arcade, the crew and I followed a few steps behind. Just as we got to the doors mall security popped up out of nowhere. They seemed to know a fight was about to happen, and they were more than willing to let it happen, but they wouldn't let us spectate.

Never one to be defeated, I shouted out to my friends "Follow me dudes!" as I ran off in a flash up towards Food City, my trusted cronies following right behind as we sprinted like a pack of wild dogs. We bolted out of Food City and ran around the side of the building towards the doors by the arcade. When we got there, both Jules & Maggot were poised with grace, dukes up, looking like a couple of professional pugilists.

Julie was quite tall, around 6 feet, and she was clearly (wo)manhandling the shorter, stouter Maggot, whipping her about like a weightless rag doll. Jules was coming hard with a barrage of kicks and punches. In a clear act of desperation Maggot poked Julie in the eye which immediately stopped the action. I'll never forget Jules ranting on about how she poked her in the eye, she seemed so offended by it despite the fact she had obviously gotten the better of Maggot during the exchange of fisticuffs.

The next thing I knew they were reconciling their differences, then they walked back into the mall together, sat at a table in the food court, and shared cigarettes and words with each other. Some guidelines were set in stone as far as rolling was concerned, and before long the two had become somewhat of friends. From that day forward there wasn't much rolling happening anymore, and Maggot had become more friendly with the people in the scene, humbled by her beat down. There was also no doubt in anyones mind which Chelsea now stood atop the pecking order of the skin head army, my girl Boots!

Happy Toofer

Greetings readers, just a quick note for all of you. I decided to skip Mondays post since it was a holiday and I was enjoying the extra time with my son. We did a lot this weekend, plenty of movies and Xbox, shopping, petting exotic animals, hot tubbing at my best friend Jerry's, and we went to an awesome potluck BBQ at my friend Steve's place, owner of The Devil's Latex. I hope all my fellow Canadians had a safe and fun May two four weekend!

I also wanted to give birthday shout outs to my former roommate Matt, happy 26th birthday buddy! I'd also like to give uber birthday wishes to my one and only father who had his birthday on the 20th, I hope it was a good one dad, happiest of birthdays to you, without you I'd be nothing...

Join me tomorrow for the continuation of Heavy Ghetto...

Rolling

Another new trend I was seeing in the late 80s was "Rolling" Rolling consisted of taking articles of clothing from a person using either verbal threats or actual brute force. Rolling was predominant amongst the skinhead community, and they were usually rolling people for Doc Marten shoes or boots and bomber jackets, both of which are a staple of the skinhead uniform. It was as if the skins felt that only THEY had the right to wear these items, but we all know that this is a free country and we all have the choice of freedom to wear what we want and dress how we want.

The main targets seemed to be non skinhead people who were wearing these items, most of whom were mods or poseur punks. For awhile there it seemed like any given night that I went to the mall someone was getting rolled. This trend was happening a lot down in Toronto, which I guess was the factor that convinced Jerry's dad that we would be "killed by skinheads" if we went downtown Toronto.

The same thing was happening in Toronto amongst the black community, well it was more so black guys "rolling" white b-boys for gold chains, fancy track suits, running shoes, and even baseball caps. I never had an issue with either skins or blacks trying to roll me, but I did have a few friends that were "rolled" and I can't remember how many times I saw jacket less or shoes less kids walking around Bramalea City Centre. I was however fortunate enough to receive a nice pair of 10 hole paten leather docs that my best friend Julie rolled some younger pretty boy punk for.

As the crossover movement flourished and we found a sense of unity amongst the hardcore scene, rolling slowly started to die out, until "Maggot" showed up on the scene. Maggot was a female skinhead or "Chelsea" as we called them. Rumour had it she had been released from prison. Her real name was Margaret, or Maggie as she preferred to be called, but she quickly earned the nickname "Maggot" because of how low down and dirty she was.

Maggot was covered in mediocre manly tattoos which just added to her un feminine appearance, and she was already lacking in the "looks department" to begin with. Just as we were all finding peace and unity amongst the scene, Maggot showed up out of nowhere and started turning things upside down. She started rolling anyone and everyone that weren't skinheads but wore docs & bombers. She was so ruthless and intimidating that even younger males were giving the goods up to her. This would continue on until a hero finally stepped up to the plate to give Maggot her "just desserts"...