FIGHTINGxCHANCE

Quintessential early '00s SXE hardcore. Melodic guitar leads, earnest lyrics, circle pit parts and dogpile parts...shit is all here, kids. FIGHTINGxCHANCE was a short lived project made up of Detroit and Toronto punks...captures the era perfectly. Members went on to play in NO WARNING and, if the internet is to be believed, this.

FIGHTINGxCHANCE

I've never fucking done it, never fuckin will

drink a fucking substance, I know can fuckin kill

social status, do it because it's cool

do it to be accepted, you're plain [sic] the fucking fool

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you say he made you do it, you try to shift the blame

but who drank the liquid? you're all the fucking same

too weak to take control, too weak to quit the game

drinking's not a "disease," it's just fuckin lame!

NEW ARMOUR

It's the guitar that wins me over. Not that everything NEW ARMOUR brings to the table isn't compelling....but those guitars are ultra damaged and tortured, even during "Vereor Nox" when they are doing beautiful things. Vanessa from LA LUNA suggested this one, and I appreciate the recommendation - pained and strained emotional sounds from Toronto. And the guitar....fukk, such a winner. So clean and so painful. Love it.

NEW ARMOUR

TV FREAKS

And why not stay in Toronto for another day? It's a very nice city, the health care is comprehensive and inclusive (and well worth the extra tax hit), and I once passed out in a phone booth covered in my own vomit there. On a subsequent visit I snuck into (well, walked right into) a TV studio and watched THE CURE play a few songs on air (Robert Smith looked, as one tour mate put it, a "bloated booze whale"). TV FREAKS are from Toronto, and they play edgy garage punk that reminds me of a more tuneful and slightly less dangerous FUNCTIONAL BLACKOUTS. They are very good, much like the city they are from. Enjoy.

TV FREAKS

FUCKED UP

A brilliant idea, executed to near perfection. Toronto's FUCKED UP are probably well known to most of you as a band who released a few killer EPs, followed them up with a confusing but still pretty darn good double LP, and then parlayed their self generated hype machine into a bizarre form of mainstream credibility and what is shaping up to be a wholly uninteresting catalog of recorded material on Matador and Vice. But before they dove headfirst into their own hooplah and started making yawn inducing records, FUCKED UP released this mix tape to entertain listeners, debut some songs that were new to those not lucky enough to have seen the band live (I've seen them only once, in 2004 in Chicago, and I was kinda pissed that they were awesome - when everyone says a band rules, there's a part of me that wants to hate them...but they were too damn good, and I couldn't do it), and shine the spotlight on some other new Toronto bands. URBAN BLIGHT, PINK EYE, TERMINAL STATE, NUBS, BRUTAL KNIGHTS, NUBS, UNDERTONES, DIRTY BLACK SUMMER and CAREER SUICIDE are all featured, but various FUCKED UP blips, live bits and interview snippets keep this from rolling like just another ordinary mix tape. Great stuff from what could have been a great band....and they invited their friends. 

FUCKED UP Mix Tape

Only complaint: I want to hear the KELLY CLARKSON cover start to finish please.

DISTORT TORONTO

Toronto was kicking in the mid '00s (still is, really), with piles of great bands. I was there a few times - not nearly often enough - and had the pleasure of seeing most of the bands on this tape either there or in the states (living in the Midwest does indeed have it's privileges, and a close proximity to our Northern Neighbors is near the top of the list). Distort Toronto goes from catchy and melodic punk (BAYONETTES) to new hardcore influenced by old hardcore (TERMINAL STATE, CAREER SUICIDE) to sweet sweet pummeling (SAIGON DISTRESS SIGNAL, THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE) and then wraps up with tracks from THE WASTERS and CAPITAL DEATH (who are from Nova Scotia, if you're keeping track).  Some of these tracks are rawer than the bands'

 appearances on wax, but that's what fukkn tapes are for - and 30 minutes of Canadian punk is what this Friday is for. 

DISTORT TORONTO