Chasing Labels

There are few things in this world that will get my absolute devotion. There are friends, family, my lady. All of them for obvious reasons. Outside of them, there are two things that undoubtedly changed, inspired and formed who I am as a person.

The Background

I remember exactly the moment when I became so incredibly inspired by music. In grade seven, a friend of mine gave me a tape that his brother had and hated. On one side was SNFU which I hated. It was horrid garbage. The singer was horrid, the music was horrid. The worst. I listened to it for a few songs and decided to flip it over to see if the other side was better. It was. First, there was this chord, just a chord, a chord that sounded like it was recorded on the crappy red tape machine I was listening to it on. Then some bass and a snare building up, building up and building up to some guy screaming at me “What happened to you!”. What? Holy shit is this fast. I was in awe, I was kinda scared and I didn’t know what the hell was going on. The guitar player couldn’t play, there were things in there that sounded like solos but, um, they weren’t. A minute later, another song and this guy was still screaming at me. Maybe he didn’t “wanna hear it” but this seemed like all I ever wanted to hear. From that point on, I was a Minor Threat fan. I wanted to get my hands on anything and everything that this band made so I called a record store in town and asked the kindly gentleman if he had anything by Minor Threat. The gentleman, Dave, didn’t but he did have something from his other band and suggested that I might like that. I asked my mom to drive me in to town and I bought a Fugazi cassette. It didn’t sound like Minor Threat but it sounded good so I wasn’t disappointed. Time passed and my collection of Minor Threat and Fugazi records grew and you start to realize that all of these records are on the same label, Dischord. So I did what anyone would do and bought anything that was on that label because, well, I liked the other stuff so how could it be bad? With that realization, so began my devotion to Dischord Records and the idea that there must be other labels out there putting out a bunch of records I might like.

Small Town Ain’t Like The Big City

In Regina at the time, there was no community radio station. There was a university station but you had to be pretty much on campus to listen to it. I was on a farm. The only option you had was CBC late night and two shows, Brave New Waves and Nightlines. I couldn’t stay up as late as the programs were on so I would tape them or try my best and maybe catch an hour if I was lucky. Those shows have long since ended but I know for a fact that there is a huge amount of affection for them, even just among my friends. Outside of those programs, there were friends. I’ve gone over this in another post but it can’t be stressed enough how important those people were to me growing up and still to this day. There were others as well who didn’t get mentioned. My friends Trevor, Nathan, Scott. Everyone got me interested in something new. We spent a lot of time in each others rooms listening to music but most of our time was spent at Jay’s house. He had a trampoline. He also had a Jesus Lizard tape. I don’t know what made him buy a Jesus Lizard tape, only he would know that but I do remember listening to it in his room. It’s weird how things go. That’s it. That’s the extent of my memory of that moment in time. We listened to it. I don’t remember an opinion that registered. I’m sure I would have said I hated it just to be contrarian, a trait which has followed me into my thirties but seriously, I don’t remember. Regardless, I bought it. Goat.

Touch And Go

The Jesus Lizard were on Touch And Go so obviously, I bought what I could on Touch And Go and every record I’ve bought has resonated with me in some way and has resonated with my friends in equal frequency. I can almost guarantee that each of my friends owns Goat. I can almost guarantee that every one of my friends owns a Blonde Redhead record, a Girls Against Boys record (also a Jay band), a Big Black record. When you’re forming your musical tastes, it’s the tastes of your friends that informs it most and we had good taste that all stemmed from chasing labels. The thing about labels like Dischord and Touch And Go is that they have a lot of history built in. You can always go backwards and get educated. Like Shellac? Listen to Big Black. Pick up Rapeman. Like The Jesus Lizard? Pick up Scratch Acid. Same as when I started. Like Minor Threat? Pick up Fugazi. The tree is beautiful but the beauty starts at the roots. By the time I had a band of my own, I was well versed in Touch And Go’s history. When the opportunity arose to not only see but play with The Jesus Lizard in Saskatoon, I would have been a fool not to. I had only heard The Jesus Lizard, never seen them so this was a great two in one. Some of the guys in the band had never heard the magic that is David Yow and didn’t really share my excitement but regardless, we drove to Saskatoon in a couple of cars in conditions that were treacherous and frightening. Snowdrifts in each lane, visibility at a minimum but I was not going to miss this. We go there and played our set, watched the Kittens and waited for The Lizard to take the stage. The club was filled with maybe 100 people. Maybe. The first chord was struck and everyone was jaw to the floor amazed. That wasn’t life changing but it was certainly life affirming. To hear David Yow say your band of 19 year old kids “kicked his ass” makes you feel, um, amazing. It may have been insincere and just good manners but none the less, you feel great. I’ve seen The Jesus Lizard several times since then and make no mistake, if you could only see one band live, this is the band that you should see. Sims scowls at you, Denison never misses a note, McNeilly hits his drums like a drunken step-father and Yow basically aims a gun at you for 90 minutes, says “thank you very goddamned much” and walks off stage dripping sweat. All for you. If there are rock and roll martyrs, The Jesus Lizard are them.

An Expression Of The Inexpressible

I’ve seen a lot of my Touch And Go heroes over the years. I saw Blonde Redhead in Edmonton two nights in a row because I love them. I lied, cheated and stole to see Killdozer in Saskatoon. I made the trek to Chicago to see a whack of them over three days for Touch And Go’s 25th Anniversary as did a bunch of my friends and we owe it all to chasing labels. I was fortunate enough to work at a record store that dealt directly with Touch And Go distribution. April was our go to. If you walk into Melodiya Records in Calgary, you would likely be able to find any in print Touch And Go record on the shelf (some out of print too). You would meet a staff who would honestly talk your ear off if you were buying a Touch And Go artist’s record. You will see Touch And Go promo pasted to the walls, stickers on the desk and likely hear a Touch And Go artist on the speakers at least once over the course of an hour. There were and likely still are a varied mix of personalities in that store but there was at least this one thing that we could all agree on. There is a connection to that label that people feel that is extraordinary. To each person, that label feels like their own and that can be attributed to Corey Rusk. You may never meet Corey Rusk, I never have, but the way that label is run, the artists he releases, the music that has been shared makes you feel like you have sat in his room with a few close friends, listening to records. That’s a rarity.
Whatever the future holds for Touch And Go, there is a history that is endless for listeners new and old. Put on a T&G or Quarterstick record and be thankful that you’ve shared in their success. If you don’t own a record on Touch And Go, it’s very possible that you don’t like music. Myself, I’m currently listening to the new Sholi and enjoying it. I’ll likely switch to some Brainiac later and then some Blonde Redhead. I might throw Big Black’s Headache on the turntable even though it’s “not as good as Atomizer”. I’ll likely listen to Pinback’s Summer in Abaddon and remember all the things that echoed in my head as Rob Crow talked about his heroes and love for the label at T&G’s 25th. Either way, I’ll be navigating my record collection not by artist or title or recollection of the color of the spine but by chasing labels. Just like I always have.