Sex Pistols this, Ramones that. Were you there when the 222s started Montreal’s punk rock riot

Since no one asked for it, here are more pictures of the 222s because they dressed so incredibly glam and were extremely underrated and deserved better <3

This reminds me a lot of Visage's Fade To Grey! This was an electropop, synthpop group from Montreal called Nudimension.

They were largely a studio group, primarily made up of a singer-drummer Louie Louie and a non-musician and manager Marc Fontaine. They were occasionally joined, as a 'co-vocalist', by model and TV presenter Anne Marie Cyr, who appears in the music video here and talks (like the French spoken-word verses in Fade To Grey) while Louis sings, because she wasn't a singer and was apparently 'unable to sing'.

Louis previously drummed in Montreal's first punk band, the 222s, who had split up in 1981, and as one of the band's principal songwriters along with guitarist Pierre Major, before singer Chris Barry joined the band, Louis had been keen on writing pop songs even with the 222s, and he was keen on exploring the new synth pop direction, so he formed Nudimension (literally a new dimension to the music). The band mostly wrote in French, and became popular in Francophone Quebec and France, and coming out around the time of the rise of synthpop and the music video, as a band with a visual presence made them stand out quite a bit. Recording a few English language songs and versions of French songs also got them some success across North America.

The spark had gone out by 1989, members went on to focus on other projects. Louis rejoined the 222s on their reunion tour with Asexuals from 2009 to 2011, when the band played Osheaga, one of Canada's premiere indie music festivals.

This song was a bit of a hit, Amour Programmé. Very futuristic and warning of a loss of connection— in a very 80s way. Lyrics by a youtube commenter under the cut

Here's a compilation of 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.

Like this is so cool. It's a shame a lot of Canadian music until about 20 years ago was neither documented nor coveted in the same way British and American music was, because in all regards apart from being Canadian, Chris has led a life as wild and noteworthy as any higher profile 70s punk rocker from the US or the UK scenes. Surreal that I got to do this!

On Chris Barry, the 222s, Montreal’s punk riot at McGill and the birth of the short-lived 364 St. Paul Street W.

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).