Bombs Away Tapes #1

Durham Regional Music [Cassette] Compilation 1994

On the Lake Ontario shoreline, across from Buffalo, New York and approximately 60 kilometers east of Toronto is a city called Oshawa. The name stems from the Ojibwa term "aazhaway" which means "the crossing place". Oshawa is not only known for its automotive industry (the Canadian division of General Motors) but was also a British paramilitary installation for training covert agents during WWII at what was known as Camp X.

During different times there has thrived a local Durham Region music scene. Bands such as Christmas, a Canadian progressive rock band formed in 1969 to Mars Bonfire (aka Dennis Edmonton and his brother Jerry), from Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf wrote such rock classics as "Born to be Wild" and "The Pusher". The Heavy Metal band Anvil record here and other names such as Neil Young, Sum 41 to Blue Rodeo have connections to the area.

This compilation is a snap shot of a particular era in the history of the Durham scene captured around the early 1990's. As the popularity of the Seattle Alternative music scene arose, almost overnight, a whole slew of Punk and Alternative bands infiltrated the scene - clutching it from the hands of the preceding Death Metal scene that appeared for a brief moment.

This album was initially released via cassette tape around approximately 1994 and the sound quality is very low-fi. The tape has been transferred to digital format, cleaned up and uploaded. No idea where half these people or bands are now, but it's a very interesting look back. This tape, in no way reflects every single band at the time that had emerged from the Region, but it displays a few. The tape serves as a brief footnote at best.

Reviews from the time of release:

Dysfunctional Blender: A Compilation of Local Talent

(Bombs Away Tapes #1)

Just when you figure punk is dead in Durham along comes a prize to prop it all back up. This is culled from the ranks of the local underground promoting bands based in Whitby, Oshawa and Pickering. Side 2 tends to show-case the more experimental efforts. Indeed there is some unusually cool stuff here. Check out Stabat Mater or Signal 30. Wheeuph! But it is Side 1 that really takes the proverbial cake. Included are vintage Voodoo Chicken, "Walk like An Egyptian" to the amazing but short lived Dung, "Star Dog". Can't forget The Cleavers and their brain stabbing "Mom & Dad". Assholes of the Highest Degree beg to remind us if you take it all too seriously then you are fucked. Of all the groups featured two deserve special mention. Shyface "The Bad Guy" features the coolest who gives a shit lyrics this side of unfashionable. Gawd! On the other hand God's Alphabet wins hands down as the ugliest bit of punk rock pulled kicking out of the mother fish. Hypnotic in its execution "Wild" truly lives up to its namesake. These guys rule. Hopefully more of the acts will take the nod and release their own albums. Currently efforts by Signal and Shyface are now available. - Al C.

Review featured in the February 1994 issue of Woolly Tuque Durham's New Music Guide Volume 2 - Issue 2.

Last Minute: Dysfunctional Blender [Independent]:

Compelling the underground bands of Durham and as far afield as Lindsay and Toronto to submit material to the inspired cause of building the scene, Simon Oates and Dave Weir of "Trunktion" magazine have produced a compilation that is entirely true to its name. Dysfunctional Blender has a huge amount of material on it - 29 (28 ed.) songs in all - which reflects an incredible genre-spanning diversity.

From the discorporeal, acoustic "Melting" by Jeen and Lonny of Lilith and the reverb-drenched "Perfect Place" by Sublime through the whiplash industrial "Opinion" by Finnegan Drive Squid; from the dance-club beat of Nemo and Technomega Seven to the razor sharp dissonance of Shyface's "Bad Guy" and the sepulchral voice of Near Death Experience in "Poltergeist", Dysfunctional Blender alternately plumbs the darkest recesses of musical nihilism, lilting ballads, driving punk angst, bitterly satirical folk, and wiseass rock and roll. Other contributions include tracks from The Cleavers, Shadwell's Jacket, Stabat Mater, Crib Death, Starkweather, Dung, Ribbed, Lazy Heffer, Clump, Harold, God's Alphabet, Signal 30, Knilly, The Hasils, Exploding Tits, Assholes of The Highest Degree, Chips and Choda.

I shouldn't even have to mention the fact that few, if any, of these recordings are professionally done. Some of the songs, in addition to being really awful, are recorded terribly as well - the slap a cassette in the potable, set it on the floor and jam method. The compilation itself comes to you on a hand-lettered TDK 90 minute type 1 cassette. But this is part of the entire aesthetic... If you have a problem with a bit of tape hiss, then you're really missing the point. Dysfunctional Blender is a document, a snapshot of this moment in the local music scene and in this capacity it completely succeeds. The message is a simple, visceral one - check out what's happening around you; grab some friends, some instruments, and form a band. It's not that hard. Get thee to a garage. And rawk rawk rawk.

Just think. You too can check out Dysfunctional Blender at Star Records, 148 Simcoe St South, or Sams at the OC, for about three or four bucks. Mere pennies per glass - Todd Howe

Review featured in the February 1994 issue of Pylon: Durham's Ugliest Music Guide, Volume 777 Issue One