April 1985

Agenda reviews the concert presentations of CKDU-FM

by Cicerone and lain Cook

Killing Time/Raw Fish Man/Ridge of Tears

Garden Cafeteria of the Dalhousie SUB, March 8th, 1985

In a dream you stumble upon a small bottle. One side is labeled Drink Me, the other side Not For Everyone. Those of you who drank from the bottle might also have been in the Dal SUB's Garden not so long ago. You learned from Roland Blinn, the Raw Fish Man, first how to make fish with the aid of fish sticks. Then, using his rhythm box and guitar, Roland gave the 100-plus audience a not-so-necessary but quite educational lesson in the ways and means of life. Confused? Good. That was Raw Fish Man's method— to catch the audience off-guard and test their open-mindedness.

Ridge of Tears, in their first public performance, showed that a combination of skill and sincerity could overcome the ennui of a Halifax audience. (Sure you go to gigs. They're a cheap, warm place to sleep.) Their 45-minute set was mostly promising original material, and included Damned and Joy Division covers.

Killing Time, from Moncton, was the main draw of the evening. From the first crashing guitar assault, Killing Time filled the Garden with an intense energy equaled in the recent past in Halifax only by D.O.A. Their tight rhythm was infectious, and a couple of their original tunes have been running in the back of my head from time to time since. Two of the members have been playing together in Moncton bands since they were big enough to lift their instruments, and the practice shows. Killing Time are fine ambassadors of the Moncton "music scene" which is close-knit and without violence. (Hey big macho men -leave either your studs or your bad attitudes at home.) They have several Maritime gigs lined-up after which it's off to Montreal to open for The Exploited and U.K. Subs (good publicity from questionable bands).

Lone Stars/Ridge of Tears/Sebastopol/Vulgarians

Garden Cafeteria of the Dalhousie SUB, March 30th, 1985

Our little baby is putting on weight!

More than 400 turned out for the Metro Music Showcase, featuring four great local bands. The Vulgarians opened with a mix of bizarre, twisted covers of old faves and their own danceable, energetic material. The crowd lapped it up.

Next was Sebastopol, a new metro techno-pop band. The band showed great promise, with a collection of synth-pop ditties filled with an infectious dance beat. At times the band's stage presence seemed a bit forced, but that's probably due to the limitations of their drum machine. There was a heavy British influence present in the music, following in the trend of British pretty-boy and girl bands currently drowning the music charts.

Ridge of Tears proved quite a contrast to the squeaky-clean image of Sebastopol. Their crashing, moody music had a driving tribal rhythm and rough sound which had everyone dancing. Their unique approach evoked a guttural sort of New Order.

The Lone Stars headlined the Metro Music Showcase, and their true and time-tested formula of straight-forward, no-holds-barred rock and roll was instantly popular. No fancy synthesizer effects here — just a combination of country and western and rockabilly presented with no pretensions. There were some mean guitar licks which just sent the music soaring. It's good to see that the Lone Stars have finally built-up plenty of good material of their own.

All in all, the evening was a great success, once again showing that the local underground music scene is indeed alive and well.

And it just keeps on coming. Friday April 26th, 8pm, CKDU-FM presents Ridge of Tears, Film Noir, Sebastopol and Roland Blinn — The Raw Fish Man. See ya there!