Noise in the 'hood

>> NDG: the next Seattle!

by ROBBIE DILLON

Besides being a source of seven essential street drugs, the back alleys and basement apartments of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce are a hotbed for dreams of rock 'n' roll glory. The neighbourhood's diverse musical history can be traced through the '60s, to artists like the Wackers, Vomit and the Zits and the magnificent Louie Doyle, a Lysol-drinking homeless man who used to stagger into Girouard Park every welfare day and belt out a lusty, 90-minute version of "Goodnight Irene" before passing out in the bushes.

These early attempts to create a definitive NDG sound were great for pissing off the neighbours but--with the notable exception of Jah Cuttah and the Determination Band--were wildly unsuccessful. More recently, however, NDGers like Dubmatique's DJ Choice have been connected with some of the nation's finest musical entertainment. In '99, the National Dumping Ground is due for some long-awaited respect.

Shades of Culture were among the first to promote NDG's unique mix of Jamaican, Québécois and Irish working-class elements. In the video for "Mindstate," the title track from their new album, the band put their 'hood on the literal and figurative map as they searched for intellectual enlightenment. "Everyone in the band is from NDG and we're very loyal to it," says SOC's Revolution. "We don't take it as far as some of the American bands who are all like, 'Protect your neighbourhood,' but we think we live in a very intercultural place and we're very happy about that. NDG is what Shades of Culture is all about."

While SOC are representing, Bran Van 3000 have been doing their part with "Party in NDG," a hard-rocking track that was inspired by the energy of seminal punk bands like the Discords and Gassenhauer. "Some of the band members are from NDG and it just seemed to be the logical place to situate that sound," says Bran Vanner James Di Salvio. "There's a kind of NDG idea that's just waiting to blossom. It's been a sleeping diamond for so long. Eventually someone will have to uncover it."

Revolution and Di Salvio agree that NDG is poised to become a musical and cultural mecca of Seattle-like proportions. The benefits for the neighbourhood could be huge. But those of us who still remember the Monkland Avenue Invasion--when a row of useful pharmacies and hardware stores was smothered under a pastel-tinted wave of cappuccino-sucking pretentiousness--are likely to be less than thrilled by the inevitable stampede of purple-haired chicks with too much piercing and not enough shaving.

At any rate, record company talent scouts and snotty McGill brats in search of the Next Big Thing are advised to steer clear of the locals. As the Discords put it in their 1985 single "NDG": "We're the boys from NDG/We're the ones you'll always see/You better not stop, look, or stare/We'll kick your face in; we don't care/'Coz there will always be/A fuckin' NDG!!"