Oh Canaduh

Nomeansno, holy !@$#!! Oh my god!
I was a huge Nomeansno fan when their masterpiece "Wrong" came out in 1990, it's become a sort of cult* punk classic, but it's just a classic punk record, period. I'm sure Nomeansno's twisted existential punk sensibilities had an effect during my formative years. They were wildly experimental, they played jazz-prog-funk-hyphenated-punk (in a good way, I swear!) and even did a few acapella numbers, yes, punk-acapella.
They could play the hell out of their instruments, and their lyrics read like some sort of twisted existential poetry, and they were punk as hell. If you have any interest in (good) punk rock, go get WRONG, now!

Well, time passes, tastes change, bands put out mediocre records, etc.. Then, more time passes, tastes change back, bands start putting out good records again, etc...
Nomeansno have had a renaissance of sorts in the last few years, their newer material fit seamlessly with their old songs, and what I've heard of their last two records is pretty damn good.

I remember missing them last year, and regretting it. Then I talked to a friend at home and he mentioned that he saw them and they were as good as always. And then I got an e-mail from another friend who was driving from L.A. to S.F. to see them. SO, something must be going on, and I was not going to miss them this time around, no way. I was happy to see that a good number of people showed up to see them, I had always heard that they were (relatively) popular in Europe, and I guess that's true.

How Fucken old are Nomeansno, anyway? I guess because they were always noticably older, (Rob Wright, had grey hair back in their early days, he's 51 now!) the subject of their age has always seemed to come up. First it was how much older and wise they were, then, that they were old geezers, and now a new image has come up, the idea that one can rock well into their 40's and 50's and NOT age gracefully. They look as old and crusty as you could imagine and they rock out even harder than you could imagine, a fine example of the old guys putting the young whippersnappers in their place. They put their years of experience to good use, and John Wright has just gotten better and better as a drummer, he was just going off, some of the most incredible drumming I have seen in a long time.
Yes, they rocked out, totally.

Here's a link to a newer song of theirs at epitonic.com. There's a lot of other good music at epitonic.

Graveyard Shift


*I've always wondered about the concept of the "cult" band, apparently, when a band refuses to stop playing past their peak in popularity, e.g, Nomeansno, Camper Van Beethoven, The Go-Betweens, Shellac, Wedding Present, etc..they get labeled a "cult" band. I've always found this term somewhat puzzling, and a bit offensive. If one's taste in music falls out of the mainstream, or is not trendy, hip, or up-to-date, then you have joined a cult of fellow musical obscurists. For a band to be labeled a "cult" band is also pretty bad, i.e., you are a cult band, and you will not make any new fans you will only have your old fans who are too old to count and do not fit in our marketing demographic blah blah blah.