Hamilton vinyl emporium Star Records is discussed by Chris Houston, Rob Sweeney and Paul Kobak for a new Kire Paputts film.
Here's the scoop from filmmaker Kire Paputts...
Hey everybody,
I’ve been making a new film this summer about Paul Kobak. He opened Star Records in Hamilton in 1975.
I’m putting together a free punk panel consisting of Paul Kobak, Chris Houston (Forgotten Rebels), and Rob Sweeney (Durango 95, Purple Toads). Hosted by Liz Worth. We’ll be chatting about Star Records (Hamilton/Oshawa), Teenage Head, and the early days of punk rock in Hamilton. This event will be filmed and featured in my new film. If you come to the event there’s a good chance you’ll be in the film 🙂
If you’d like to hear some old Hamilton punk stories while helping my film at the same time, I’d love your support.
This will be a public event. Please feel free to share it with others.
The City & City Books (181 Ottawa St. N, Hamilton)
Forgotten Rebels' bassist Chris Houston joined Demics' guitarist Steve Koch in T.O. rockabilly crew One-Eyed Jacks.
Here's the scoop...
During the Toronto rockabilly scare of the early 80s – when Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor were done as The Hi Fi's and trying to make it in NYC for three years prior to forming Blue Rodeo – Demics guitar ace Steve Koch formed a short-lived band with Forgotten Rebels bassist Chris Houston called the One-Eyed Jacks which I saw tearin' it up at various clubs on the Queen West circuit like the Beverly Tavern, Cabana Room and the Cameron House. There was one particularly memorable gathering of the tribes at Ontario College of Art – where Chris was momentarily seeking higher education – involving The Sidewinders (featuring Handsome Ned with pals Ronny Azzopardi of The Next and J. D. Weatherstone of The Demics), The Paladins and The Bopcats with Teddy Fury.
Check out a rare audio clip of the One-Eyed Jacks' song "24 Hour Cafe" right here. And watch the video for "Someone's Gonna Get Kissed" below. Seems like some sharp archival label owner should get in touch with Steve Koch & Chris Houston about releasing a 4-song EP of One-Eyed Jacks recordings from their 1982 session.
Writes Chris Houston: "When the One-eyed jacks formed, it was radical statement – a rejection of what was the norm. We felt punk rock was a spent force and we wanted to be what's next. To us that meant clean guitars so you could hear the voicing of the chords. We were picking up on that great swing of the bands of the 1950s. How could you top The Demics, The Viletones, Forgotten Rebels and Crash Kills Five? We had to move ahead in different direction by embracing what had been done by the musical gods who invented this shit called 'rock n' roll.' There were others on the Queen St scene who embraced this too but this would be our own scene because the other scenes were collapsing in their own self-importance. After the original punk explosion, the survival of Queen St scene was tenuous.
"The One-Eyed Jacks rehearsed continuously in a basement space on Queen St. West near Bellwoods that was so small – about the size of six telephone booths – if I leaned too far forward I would fall into Alex's cymbals. When the new TTC street cars came rolling by, they would rattle our brains but we kept playing. We knew we had to work hard but it was fun learning a whole new style of music. I think what makes '24 Hour Cafe' so great was that it was about a real place on Peter St. along with our joy in learning to play a classic form of rock 'n' roll. Steve Koch is a great musician and composer. Each year he's grown better and better. His latest work with He Mistook Her For A Swan is fantastic!
"The One-Eyed Jacks recorded four songs at studio called The Grange. Back in 1982, it was not cheap to record in a real studio and it was a crap shoot if the engineer got what you're doing. We were lucky it stands the test of time. We played once in London, Ontario opening for Carl Perkins. The guy behind the bar at the venue treated us like shit. This upset Mr. Perkins who demanded we be treated the same as him – right down to making the same dramatic gestures when serving us drinks. If the pour wasn't just right, Mr. Perkins would make him do it again. WOW! I learned a lot being in his presence of Mr. Perkins. His guitar playing was mind blowingly great. I always knew he was a hot picker but seeing him up close was incredible – like the Charlie Parker of rockabilly! For some reason, each member of the band was wearing a different cologne with a very distinct scent. It seemed kinda odd but when they got on stage, you could easily pinpoint where each player was at any given moment so I guess it worked for them. The next night, Mr. Perkins didn't go to Toronto to play The Horseshoe as scheduled because the paper work for immigration wasn't done properly. Mr. Perkins spent an hour telling us he would never do anything that could put his sons in jail and wanted us to convey that message to the people of Toronto when we got back.
"There was also one freezing night that The One-Eyed Jacks opened for the Legendary Blues Band at the Club Without A Name... and with no heat either! I still remember seeing these Muddy Waters' sidemen in the manager's office all standing around the one heater in the place. They said, 'it gets cold in Chicago too – but not like this! Willie "Big Eyes" Smith drumming that night was pure voodoo with Pinetop Perkins on piano! Yow! – boy, they made us feel very white!"
Those interested in further listening can hear Jim Cuddy discussing The Hi-Fi's, playing ska, reggae and funk in New York and the early 80s Queen West scene on the Turned Out A Punk podcast right here.
Steve Koch & Colleen Hodgson aka He Mistook Her For A Swan will be playing songs from their latest album Lady Isobel at The Mezz (1546 Queen St. West) on Sunday (January 26) from 3pm to 6 pm. Adds Steve: "We're going to be doing an acoustic set and then we'll be joined by Derrick Brady and Larry Graves Grier Coppins Musica and Brian Stillar for a more electric eclectic set. Come on down for your fill of murder ballads!"
Chris Houston presents the Hamilton he knows on his new album, One Mania To The Next. Listen to a couple of tracks below.
Here's the scoop... Chris Houston's new album, One Mania to the Next – out now – is the official follow up to Hazards of Glitter. A few of the songs first appeared in demo form on 2018’s Today’s Temperature mini-album, (Now deleted at Chris’s request – ‘These are better versions’). Everything on One Mania to the Next is 100% Houston standard full-on.
Acting as a companion piece to Houston’s acclaimed guided tour of home town Hamilton, Ontario’s punk-rock landmarks, his credentials are that not only was he there, but he remembers it all.
From the opening (I Need) Lloyd D Jackson Square Energy, the album documents, celebrates and immerses the listener in an era when a town that didn’t have a musical identity first strapped on a guitar and walked out into the world, unashamed and entirely unafraid.
Get a copy of Chris Houston's One Mania to the Next via DW Recordings right here. Check out a few tracks below.
Chris Houston – One Mania to the Next
1: (I Need) Lloyd D Jackson Square Energy
2. Complaint Department
3: This Ain’t Hollywood
4: Too Nervous for Kung Fu
5: People Food
6: Her Book of Evil
7: Toronto AuGoGo
8: Beverly Tavern
9: Doing Nothing
10: Hamtronic Brain Virus
11: Leaving Mapleside
Those involved:
Chris Houston – lead vocals, bass guitar, drum machine
Michael Fonfara – keyboards
Danny Weis – guitar
Jack Peddler – drums
Mickey DeSadist – guitar, vocals on "This Ain’t Hollywood"
Cleave Anderson – drums
Steve Koch – guitar
Larry Electrician – drums, congas, tambourine
Lori Yates – vocals on "This Ain’t Hollywood"
Cover – Fuzzy Mall
Dedicated to Allan Caperol Houston – The coolest man in the World
Chris Houston's Hazards Of Glitter is out now on DW Records. Check out his cover of Tommy Ramone's Mean To Me.
Forgotten Rebels great Chris "Baby Jesus" Houston is back with an all-star support cast of longtime pals – including the amazing Mary Margaret O'Hara, Teenage Head's Gordie Lewis & Jack Pedler, Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, Bazil Donovan, Greg Keelor and Cleave Anderson, Michelle McAdorey, Harold Nix, Michael Fonfara, and his former One-Eyed Jacks bandmate Steve Koch – for his latest epic Hazards Of Glitter (DW Records).
Recorded with Tim Vesley at Toronto's Woodshed studio, the 10-track album of rough-cut gems is split between Houston's own streetwise revelations and well-chosen covers like the Robert Calvert-penned Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters ripper The Right Stuff, Lou Reed's Vicious Circle and Tommy Ramone's Mean To Me featuring fellow Hamiltonian Lori Yates of Rang Tango and Last Resorts infamy (listen below).
Chris Houston's Hazards of Glitter album is available now from DW Records right here. Incidentally, DW Records also has copies of Houston's previous album Today's Temperature released last March and his Evil Twang album from 1997 which features many of the same suspects involved with Hazards of Glitter, namely Mary Margaret O’Hara, Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and Michelle McAdorey.
