The Scenics: New Part In Town
(Dream Tower Records/Supreme Echo Records)
LP | CD | DL
Out now
Unfairly over-looked Canadian avant-punk pioneers reveal another fascinating insight into their earliest days.
“In the last week of High School, I hand wrote a sign. In bold and shaky print, I issued a series of challenges—’Are you tired of being in bands that aren’t doing anything different? Do you want to hear something new?’ It was the summer of 1976 and bassist Andy Meyers’ band advert caught the attention of a guitarist named Ken Badger (not to be confused with later band member Ken Fox). The two musical misfits instantly made a connection, finding that they were uncannily simpatico in terms of musical tastes, ambitions and even songwriting – no mean feat, considering how offbeat and unconventional their ideas were. Pere Ubu was a major influence, as were now-classic art-punk groundbreakers the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith and Roxy Music.
This first in a series of ‘SCENICS ANNUAL’ LPs covering each year of their original run, New Part In Town is drawn from the Scenics’ 300 hour tape archive. With drummer Mike Cusheon completing the line-up, New Part in Town comprises of 10 tracks recorded by the nascent Scenics, only 4 months after Myers and Badger first met. In addition to 9 Scenics’ originals, the album includes an intriguing 9 minute cover of Television’s storied debut single, Little Johnny Jewel.
The recording quality is understandably a little on the rough side, but there’s no mistaking the sheer excitement generated by the trio as the interlocking components of Meyers’ propulsive bass, Cusheon’s high-energy drumming and Badger’s ever-inventive guitarwork combine to create a fresh and ebullient new sound.
The similarities in Badger and Meyers’ songwriting styles are striking; both seem to have found a happy common ground between straight-ahead, cathartic rock & roll and awkward art-rock, as exemplified by the Badger-penned album title and Meyers’ skewed homage to Jonathan Richman. The Scenics are one of those bands that you probably have to see live for the full effect, but this up-close-and-personal set places the listener right in the heart of the action.
New Part In Town is available as a limited-edition LP through Supreme Echo Records, with a booklet featuring an 8,000 word essay by Ken Badger and Andy Meyers, and on CD with an 1,800 word essay on Dream Tower Records.
The Scenics are on Facebook and Bandcamp
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All words by Gus Ironside, 2024. More writing by Gus can be found here.
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