Out Of The Vaults #21 - The Subhumans (Canada) - Incorrect Thoughts

My wife dives into our CD cabinets (The Vaults) and randomly pull out one of the thousands of CDs. The chosen album will then be given to me and I will talk about the CD for awhile no matter how good, bad, obscure or embarrassing the chosen disc is. Where did I buy it, when did I buy it, what was my first reaction to hearing it, do I still listen to it today etc, etc, etc

Out of the Vaults #21 - The Subhumans (Canada) - Incorrect Thoughts (1980)

First off these guys are not be confused with the more known Subhumans from the United Kingdom. These guys were from Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia to be exact. Guitarist Mike “Normal”  Graham and bassist Gerry “Useless” Hannah played louder and drummer Jim Imagawa hit harder than any member of the UK band. Singer Brian “Wimpy” Gobel definitely belted out the tunes a hell of a lot better than Dick, the winy UK Subhumans singer.

Although I knew about the UK Subhumans since high school it was not until 1993 when Rhino Records released Faster and Louder: Hardcore Punk Volume compilations that I knew about their Canadian band possessing the same name. On Volume 2 was a track titled “Firing Squad” by The Subhumans. At first I dismissed it thinking it was that annoying winy band I tried so many times but just couldn't like but then when the song came on I was pleasantly corrected. The song was definitely punk with semi-snotty lyrics but it was melodic. It actually possessed hooks. Looking through the disc liner notes, I learned the singer was now bassist for D.O.A, a band I had been listening to for years.

Unfortunately circa 1993 Canadian Subhumans material was not easy to come by. Their Incorrect Thoughts and their second album No Wishes, No Prayers were extremely expensive and highly sought after. Except for “Firing Squad” on this comp, I thought nothing of the band had been released yet on disc.

In 1996 Sudden Death Records released a Subhumans compilation named Pissed off with Good Reason. On it were a few odds and ends of the band's catalog but it would be a year later until I got the big picture.

When I bought my record store in 1997 one of the first things I did was place a huge order to distributor of punk and indie music. In the clearance section of their catalog was an actual CD version of The Subhumans’ Incorrect Thoughts album. I grabbed the last five copies.

I can’t get too much into the track listing since so many different versions of the album contain different orders but anyway you mix up the songs Incorrect Thoughts is a near-perfect punk rock record.

 “Death to the Sickoids”, “We’re Alive” and Mike Graham’s machine gun guitar-led “Out of Line” and “New Order” shows they knew how to pen rebellious punk anthems but “Dead at Birth”, “Model of Stupidity” and “Refugee” show they also knew how to write a hook. Even some, like the before mentioned “Firing Squad” contained melody.

Vinyl version of the CD Presents  release

The Subhumans were by no means a positive band. They were anti-music business (“The Scheme”), anti-conformist (“The Big Picture”), anti-tough guy (“Greaser Boy”), anti-macho (“Slave to My Dick”) and anti-everything (“Behind the Smile”)

“Behind My Smile" , which actually was not on the original Friends Records release of Incorrect Thoughts,  is one of my top ten favorite songs. It’s anathematic, it's heavy, and has one of the greatest hooks of all time. All the things that made the Subhumans such an awesome band. I could listen to this song on repeat for days and never tire of it. 

The Subhumans weren't just going through the punk rock motions either. They actually meant what they were singing about. Bassist Gerry Hannah became part of a group that would later be called “The Squamish Five”. When I say later I mean because it was after the activists bombed a Toronto plant that was making parts for “first strike” cruise missiles. (subhumans.ca). 

Even though LPs still fetch large amounts of money and the CD version I have is extremely hard to find (Actually I have never even seen another copy) somehow the original recording made its way onto iTunes. Go download it now!

Billy Raygun - S/T Album: One Blogger's Opinion

Ever since sometime 2010 when I stumbled upon their Bandcamp page, Portsmouth, New Hampshire's Billy Raygun has been a band I have kept a close watch on. What originally peaked my interest was the similarity of their name and one of my favorite bands, Naked Raygun. Figuring they may have been influenced by the great Chicago punk band I gave it a listen. Instead of finding that Naked Raygun/Chicago sound so many bands have tried to duplicate, I found this band opting for a more simple revved up pop punk sound. But not “Pop Punk” in the way you may think.

It would be easy for Billy Raygun to go for the “Pop Punk” sound of The Queers, especially since they share the same hometown, Instead the band has a sound more influenced by another band from the area. I am not sure it was intentional or even if the guys in Billy Raygun have ever heard of them, but I definitely hear the influence of the very underrated 90’s New Hampshire band Sinkhole as well as the pre-Sinkhole and even more underrated A.G.’s.

Over the course of a few comp tracks and Eps, by themselves and split with other bands, Billy Raygun has released many catchy punk rock songs with "Asheap" and "Clone", both off the 2010 split with Georgian, being two of my favorite. Each one built around a single tight power riff. Pretty good sounding but also pretty simple too. Keep in mind these guys were still very young when most those songs were recorded. As each release came out the band matured a little bit each time. The new Self titled album is the one exception. On this album the band has matured a lot.

The songs on  the album definitely get a little looser and a little more comfortable. Instead of that stiff single riff, songs like "Stale Smoke", "Ex-Friends" and "Color Me Distressed" have guitars and loose strings going everywhere in the vein of Crimpshrine or Fifteen but both Billy Raygun singers have better and clearer voices then (Crimpshrine/Fifteen singer) Jeff Ott. I'm going to make a few enemies with that one. 

Halfway through the album is the song "Tituba". It is a harder, almost metal instrumental song which serves as a great intermission to the album before the side Two gets going. Every fun punk band needs their own "Go nuts and smash things up" song. With lyrics like "I don't want to sleep right now. So smash it down and burn it up" the song "Silkworm" is Billy Raygun's.

"You're Always Right" shows the band knows how to write a broken hearted anthem with an awesome build up before the song's breakdown. The last lines of the song, with both singers singing their hearts out together is probably my favorite part of the all around great album.

"Go Somewhere", a song reminiscent of Jawbreaker's "Do You Still Hate Me" (off the 24 Hour Revenge Therapy album) closes out the album. The fact that such a young band can write an original song the same caliber of Jawbreaker at the peak of their career, shows how far Billy Raygun has come.

Right now the band has half their album streaming on their Bandcamp page here
but it will soon be available on iTunes and other online music stores. Check out Billy Raygun's Facebook page here here for more information on how to order a copy on CD or Vinyl.