@aeolianblues / aeolianblues.tumblr.com
Here's a compilation of a some clips from my chat with Chris Barry of the 222s and 39 Steps, the former being the first-ever punk band from Montreal, and the latter, a cool post punk, new wave, glam punk band in the 80s, whose song Slip Into The Crowd saw them featured in Woody Allen's (academy award winning) film, Hannah's Sisters.
The back cover of a 222s compilation, Montreal Punk '78-81. The 222s split up in 1981. Chris is most likely the black vest in the centre.
But also, to give people an idea of who the band I am talking about is, check them out:
39 Steps, Canadian post punk, gothy new wave band from Montreal. 1985. This song, Slip Into The Crowd was in the Woody Allen film Hannah's Sisters. Here's the band playing it in 1987!
“Goth punk” ok but can she do this
Can the new face of 'goth punk' hold a light to this
I'm just out here repping my Canadian new wave goths. Chris Barry got his start promoting The 222s shows in gay bars by cross dressing in red leather boots aged 12, has TS got anything on that
Okay this is so cool! A friend yesterday showed me this new wave band from the late 70s and early 80s in Montreal, they’re called 39 Steps. They’d sent us this album, Slip Into The Crowd in the mid-80s.
The album cover, different from this one on Bandcamp, featured all five members, prettied up, hair done, a bit of eyeliner, sprawled out over the floor in various poses, immediately striking me as very Duran Duran-like. The decade was immediately placeable, only they were from Montreal, Canada and not from London or Birmingham. I’ll get a picture of that cover the next time I’m at the radio station.
Their song Slip Into The Crowd was an older song of theirs from the 70s, by singer Chris Barry’s old band called The 222s. 39 Steps had re-recorded Slip Into The Crowd, and the song was used in the Woody Allen film Hannah And Her Sisters, where the band themselves appear playing the song in CBGB in New York, very of its period!
I don't know what happened of the band, or rather when they split up and why, but it does seem like the band didn't quite expect the record to be remembered as it was, but even if for self-satisfaction and completion, Chris Barry had made his mind up to remaster the hastily recorded original, which he put up on Bandcamp in 2013.
The more I read about this band—and there isn't that much, the more interesting their story gets to me: after the 222s split up, Chris went to England and was in bands with former Sex Pistols, Generation X, Police members and others. Though things didn't quite work out with any of these bands, he was at the heart of this very UK late-70s, early 80s post punk music scene, in particular the one in London. The same scene that would throw up one half of the Blitz kids, the New Romantic scene, which makes the Duran Duran resemblance make more sense to me.
Chris Barry did return to Montreal, revive the 222s and they eventually became 39 Steps, but I wish I knew more about them!
In the absence of much besides a Discogs page and a page on a mirror site of Wikipedia (not actual Wikipedia), I guess there's only one thing to do, eh? I've got to ask around and track down Mr. Chris Barry and get him on the phone for an interview (if he still does those).
I FOUND HIM!!! Chris writes for Loose Lips in Montreal and I am going to reach out to him!
He's also got the 222s music up on Bandcamp!
The version used in the film takes from the single version, with a music video shot at the Montreal Spectrum in 1986.
I have to say, the song Faithless is my absolute song of the day. What a hypnotic melody. Detached, disaffected lyrics. It's like the underbelly of the sound of the 80s. I'm quite mesmerised.
The video too is so reminiscent of a certain time and style of the 80s. The hint at a mannequin at the start, all arty and calling back to say, Ultravox or even Visage's work. But on the other hand, grittier, darker. Interesting.
Okay this is so cool! A friend yesterday showed me this new wave band from the late 70s and early 80s in Montreal, they’re called 39 Steps. They’d sent us this album, Slip Into The Crowd in the mid-80s.
The album cover, different from this one on Bandcamp, featured all five members, prettied up, hair done, a bit of eyeliner, sprawled out over the floor in various poses, immediately striking me as very Duran Duran-like. The decade was immediately placeable, only they were from Montreal, Canada and not from London or Birmingham. I’ll get a picture of that cover the next time I’m at the radio station.
Their song Slip Into The Crowd was an older song of theirs from the 70s, by singer Chris Barry’s old band called The 222s. 39 Steps had re-recorded Slip Into The Crowd, and the song was used in the Woody Allen film Hannah And Her Sisters, where the band themselves appear playing the song in CBGB in New York, very of its period!
I don't know what happened of the band, or rather when they split up and why, but it does seem like the band didn't quite expect the record to be remembered as it was, but even if for self-satisfaction and completion, Chris Barry had made his mind up to remaster the hastily recorded original, which he put up on Bandcamp in 2013.
The more I read about this band—and there isn't that much, the more interesting their story gets to me: after the 222s split up, Chris went to England and was in bands with former Sex Pistols, Generation X, Police members and others. Though things didn't quite work out with any of these bands, he was at the heart of this very UK late-70s, early 80s post punk music scene, in particular the one in London. The same scene that would throw up one half of the Blitz kids, the New Romantic scene, which makes the Duran Duran resemblance make more sense to me.
Chris Barry did return to Montreal, revive the 222s and they eventually became 39 Steps, but I wish I knew more about them!
In the absence of much besides a Discogs page and a page on a mirror site of Wikipedia (not actual Wikipedia), I guess there's only one thing to do, eh? I've got to ask around and track down Mr. Chris Barry and get him on the phone for an interview (if he still does those).
Pat Morgan of Datblygu dropped by Huw Stephens' show on BBC Radio Wales to talk about the band's compilation Terfysgiaith, a 3-disc, 60-song compilation looking back at Datblygu's career.
The band had begun planning which songs would be on the compilation before singer David R. Edwards had passed away in 2021, and the title, a play on the words 'terfysgiaeth' meaning terrorism, and 'iaith' meaning language in Welsh, was both band memebers' decision. Also from the vaults, the compilation includes a third disc made up exclusively of previously unheard and unreleased Datblygu material, some from the planned recorded material in the 90s after Libertino, the band's third album, when Dave temporarily retired from music to focus on his mental health following a breakdown, some others from sessions the band were working on before David died.
The compilation was out on Ankst Records and was available in the UK only as a physical release. The first two discs are available on streaming, but not the third.
Pat came down to talk about the band's history and their impact on Welsh language music in the 1980s.
Pat Morgan of Datblygu dropped by Huw Stephens' show on BBC Radio Wales to talk about the band's compilation Terfysgiaith, a 3-disc, 60-song compilation looking back at Datblygu's career.
The band had begun planning which songs would be on the compilation before singer David R. Edwards had passed away in 2021, and the title, a play on the words 'terfysgiaeth' meaning terrorism, and 'iaith' meaning language in Welsh, was both band memebers' decision. Also from the vaults, the compilation includes a third disc made up exclusively of previously unheard and unreleased Datblygu material, some from the planned recorded material in the 90s after Libertino, the band's third album, when Dave temporarily retired from music to focus on his mental health following a breakdown, some others from sessions the band were working on before David died.
The compilation was out on Ankst Records and was available in the UK only as a physical release. The first two discs are available on streaming, but not the third.
Pat came down to talk about the band's history and their impact on Welsh language music in the 1980s.
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Listen to the album if you agree
Okay this is very exciting because the pinned post is getting updated, because guys!!
Absolute perks of being on radio :D
We were sent this in April 1985 (and Infected in ‘86, which was the big release in North America). I didn’t know Jools Holland played pianos on this album!
Our radio station’s record collection is absolutely massive, it comes from being on air as a functional radio station for exactly 100 years now! Isn’t radio cool.
The Smiths/Johnny Marr tumblr, need your help for a moment. I remember in May or so, someone had uploaded Johnny Marr's entire headline set at the 6 Music festival in Cardiff at the Great Hall, to YouTube. I thought I'd saved the link but I just cannot find it, nor is it showing up on YouTube. Does anyone have the link?
Oh my god this album. The genre is pretty fluid, not really one, not really another. This one's got real alt vocals, the bass is quite new wave, it's got pop motifs with punk energy. I really like it!
It's from Magi Merlin's new record Gone Girl from May 2022, from Montreal.
One of my favourite things about Iceage is that if you didn't know anything about them and decided to just listen to a song or two to see what they're about, you'd go to Spotify or whatever and click their most popular song, and within 30 seconds you're off the deep end listening to this Dane whispering in your ear and very slowly enunciating to you that he's gonna keep pissing against the moon and he does not repent
...oh.
I realise I've just accidentally sold Iceage to some of you.
A colourful snapshot of Just Mustard’s performance at the Théâtre Corona in Montreal yesterday
Shaun knows
[ID: I've underlined part of Guardian's recent interview with Shaun Ryder of Happy Mondays and Black Grape where he says, "a kid sees us on TV and the next minute he's pressed his thumb and downloaded all the back catalogue and is looking at photos of you when you was 18." Music stans everywhere have been called out, pack up everyone!]
Midge Ure talks about writing Visage's Fade To Grey, and where that iconic synth bass riff came from.
