Sam Sutherland: Perfect Youth - The Birth of Canadian Punk

Publisher: ECW Press; Year: 2012; Format: Book

There was a time not even all that long ago, where I was asking myself why nobody has ever written a book on punk rock from Canada. It was a time when the first serious books about punk rock started to be published, and maybe it was just too early for this great land. But patience pays off, and in 2014 there is more than one book to be had about punk rock from those crazy Canucks. This particular one here though is special, in the sense that it covers the history of punk rock from coast to coast of this vast country. Sam Sutherland has done a fine job at doing so, and I understand that it must have been one hell of an undertaking to not only track down all the bands and its former members, but to actually organize the book so that it becomes clear to people not that knowledgable with Canadian geography where in the heck these guys came from. There are nineteen chapters in this book, and each one of them concentrates on a specific scene/city/band(s). While many of us seasoned punk rock enthusiasts are familiar with the historic backgrounds of bands such as the Viletones, Subhumans, the Diodes or D.O.A, I personally enjoyed most the chapters about the scenes I had very little knowledge about, such as Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatchewan or Ottawa, to name a few. Winters in those places are harsh, brutal, and long, yet even in those remote areas scenes developed and flourished. It is those chapters that make this book a really great read, and I would have bought a book about those remote scenes themselves, but that's just nerdy me. Of course you'll also get to read about the scenes in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal and anywhere else in Canada. Great stuff, and I hope there is more to come in form of books and records that delve into the rich history of Canadian punk rock.

Camera Silens - Realite LP

Label: Les Troubadours du Chaos; Year: 2005; Format: Vinyl LP

Punkers and Punkettes, listen up, because I won't repeat myself here too often. All of you out there need to get their greedy hands on a copy of this outstanding full length by Camera Silens from la belle France, Bordeaux to be exact. Back in 1984 the band self-released this smasher of an album, and I don't need to stress my assumption that most copies were either distributed locally, or at least nationally. I personally got to hear them for the first time through one of the 'Chaos en France' compilation LPs, released through Chaos Productions, also in the '80s. France had a lot to offer in the early to mid-80s when it comes to anthemic, melodic, yet hard street punk and bands such as Komintern Sect, Trotskids, Camera Silens, and some others were always loved by fans around the globe. For the longest time though it was extremely difficult, and above all very expensive to get original copies of those excellent releases, until in the 2000s the French finally woke up too, and especially Euthanasie Records has been reissuing a lot of the sought after material. This LP here is already into its 3rd round of reprints, and a couple of years ago also landed on a U.S. based label. There is really not much I need to say here, as all ten songs on here are superb, the production was above standard, and the song-writing phenomenal. U.K. bands such as GBH or Exploited could just dream of being able to produce an album like this one here, but convince yourself! Tell me if I was wrong!