The Last Pogo Jumps Again

What is Punk Haiku?   Straight off of The Scenics official site:

Ken Badger and I started the Scenics in 1976. The band lasted till 1982, and after that, Ken and I only talked every few years- a phone call, a letter…

In 2004, Ken mailed me a box of a dozen live Scenics tapes. We had recorded them from 1976-82 in a bunch of Toronto punk dives, and he said “Please, put these on CD before they fall apart.” I put them on a shelf in my studio and they sat there for three years.

Eventually I hauled them out. I had a weekend free and was playing catch up on a lot of old business. I grabbed a tape marked “Scenics live at the Beverley 1977″.

The Scenics meant everything to me when they were happening, but I hadn’t heard them for a long time. All sorts of wonderful (and not so) things had happened since, and I wasn’t expecting to hear anything in particular when I pressed play. But…

The Scenics knocked me out. Their songs, their intensity. How wild they played. It was a trip to hear the 19 year old me cracking wise from the stage. So familiar, yet, where had he gone?

As the tape played, I literally sat down and began writing about those days, not knowing where it was going. Over time I talked to Ken, and other friends from back then, and got some facts straight.

That writing became “Punk Haiku”, a memoir of what is was like to be in the Scenics, to be part of an intensely creative band that kind of travelled alone through the Toronto Punk scene. “Punk Haiku” also remembers the larger story of the punk DIY revolution, 1976 to 1982- hearing Talking Heads as a trio for the first time in a tiny art gallery. Hearing the 1st Ramones LP in 1976, and Television and Pere Ubu’s first independent 45′s, and the impact they made. How all these sounds and experiences affected the Scenics, and where it all led.

Hearing those tapes in late 2005 led to getting back in touch with all the Scenics. To begin listening to the 300 plus hours of punk era Scenics we have on tape. To releasing “How Does it Feel to be Loved”  and again playing live together. To releasing the Last Pogo DVD and, in Nov 2008, to going back into the studio, and recording new material. To releasing “Sunshine World in October 2009.

But all that is a different story.  This is “Punk Haiku”, the story of the Scenics, the sounds and the scene, 1976 to 1982.

Collage from thewritingspider.wordpress.com

I don’t want to hype Punk Haiku beyond the facts:  Punk Haiku is a bi-weekly posting of my fly-on-the-wall memoir of those first-wave punk days (PUNK HAIKU). It is the story of that moment in our culture- My jaw dropping as I heard the Ramones for the first time, seeing Talking Heads as a trio, etc. As well, it’s the story of the day-to-day of being in a band that was always exploring, and always travelling outside of the crowd.

As part of Punk Haiku, every two weeks i am pulling 2-3 songs from our archive of 300 hours of Scenics recorded live 76-82.  I am pulling the very best stuff, arranged chronologically (mostly) to parallel the story. These songs are available for streaming, and are downloadable  on a free/donation basis.

This is a truly unique project.  The Scenics have been recognized by some of North America’s finest critics as a band of substance. We are still unknown to the vast majority of proto-punk and exploratory music fans. We are unspooling an in-the-moment replay of those impactful, liberating years in our culture.  Backbeating  it with a full soundtrack of the best music the Scenics ever played, intimately recorded in basements and bars, and offering it all for free- a multi media portal to year zero/1976. Based on the length of the memoir, Punk Haiku will run for  over 2 years.

They got booed and heckled at their first Toronto gig, opening for Talking Heads in September 1977.    But first-wavers The Scenics are taking another kick at the can after thirty years as they hit the stage of the El Mocambo Tuesday, October 13 to kick off a five date tour in synch with the release of their new CD, Sunshine World.    Seven measly bucks gets you in the door, and you get a copy of the CD as well, and you know that they’re going to play their hearts out, and of course lots of beer and old friends.

Sunshine World was culled from 300 hours of tapes The Scenics made during their run from 76 – 82, and features studio-recorded tunes from ’77 and ’78.    Friends of The Last Pogo Jumps Again still scratch our heads at the lack of recognition The Scenics got back in the day (sentiments shared by, amongst others, Scenic pals Talking Heads drum/bass combo Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz.  A few years after the Scenics infamously opened for The Talking Heads at The Garys’ New Yorker Theatere, Tina and Chris said to Ken and Andy after hearing about their woes:  “What? I thought you guys would’ve made it by now.”

Ironically, most people point to the opening gig for Talking Heads at the New Yorker as the first and final straw in their relationship with the other scenesters and musicians.

September 16, 1977;  courtesy Molten Core.

Everyone wanted that gig, and promoters The Garys — who would later manage The Scenics — thought it would be a great surprise to have this great band come out of nowhere (y’know, as opposed to ones that might’ve been around for two months, lol) and be the opening act.  A special treat for the loyal fans of this new thing called New Wave and Punk.   But…not so much.  There were rude catcalls from the audience — “Boring!” — and The Scenics lost potential friends and fans as soon as the handbill promoting the show was stapled around town.

The show itself was great, but there was real resentment, and The Scenics became outsiders in a group of outsiders.  It wasn’t like they were pelted with eggs, mind you, but apart from fast friends like The Demics and some others, The Scenics somehow didn’t fit follow the cryptically infused rulebook on emerging new-wave/punk rock bands.  But sticks ‘n’ stones and fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.  The Scenics just wanted to make music.  They didn’t dress the part, go to the right parties, or even do the right drugs.  It was all about creating music. They would rehearse and jam for hours upon hours week after week and play in every bar in Toronto, only to break it up in the early eighties, defeated by geography (Ken Badger lived in the country, and had a family and everything) and partially due to a pronounced lack of recognition, apart from their loyal yet tiny fan base. (Hi Gary!  Hi Blair!)

Courtesy Molten Core

Flash forward a few decades, and songwriting/frontman partner Ken Badger (he of the auto-asphyxiated singing style) sends songwriting/frontman partner Andy Ramesh Meyers a shoebox of tapes.  (The Scenics recorded everything.)  Andy starts to listen to them.  Obsessively.  Ken and Andy  put together an audacious collection of live Velvet Underground covers called How Does it Feel to Be Loved, and it gets critical kudos from colleges and newspapers, and a vote for the Best CD of 2008 for The Village Voices Pazz & Jop Poll from respected critic and ex-Creem Magazine staffer Jeffrey Morgan (author of the just-released official bio of Iggy Pop) who just drools over it, and it charts at colleges in Canada and the U.S.

Getting a taste of the kind of respect ‘n’ recognition that so ably avoided them during their initial run, The Scenics are inspired.   Andy and Ken call up former members Mark Perkell and Mike Young and start to make plans.  First up is the release of the Velvet’s cover CD, then a few gigs in Toronto (including The Last Pogo’s 30th Anniversary Bash.)   Apart from the new tour and the CD, The Scenics are also going to start podcasting Punk Haiku, Andy’s memoirs from the late seventies punk days, and will be putting together a new CD of new material soon.

Ken Badger in 2008;  photo by Edie Stiener

Andy Meyers in 2008;  photo Kevin Lamb

The staff at The Last Pogo Jumps Again had a chance to have a sneak read of the first one, and it’s great;  you’re right there.  One of our favourite stories is of their quest for the perfect drummer.   After going through a couple that didn’t work out, they get a new guy, and start to rehearse.  In the middle of a song, the drummer has an epileptic seizure, Ken later remarking “Gee.  I thought he finally got it.”  Check out their site in our list on the right hand side.

If you miss them in Toronto (don’t!) they’ll be in Ottawa, Montreal, London, and Hamilton in the next week.

For a much more thorough write-up of The Scenics, check out Steve McLean’s excellent blog.  Cut and paste this http://stevemclean.blogspot.com/2009/10/scenics-i-have-to-review-gaslight.html