Blood and beer

>> The Dayglo Abortions are back!

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Dayglo Abortions drummer Jesus Bonehead is one of punk rock's most colourful characters. The most memorable moment that I got to witness was when Bonehead was stuck backstage at a friend's show. He chose to relieve himself in the band's icy beer vat while they were playing. For the encore, the band decided to pour the contents of the vat over the audience to cool off the sweaty throng. It didn't take long for the audience to notice that instead of quenching ice water, they were being drenched with pee. In a nutshell, the band was not asked back for another encore. Bonehead still can't stop laughing about the incident.

Pandemonium is what these madmen feed on. And it is probably why the Victoria-based Abortions have managed to last for over 20 years.

So Bonehead, anything interesting happen to the band this week? "Well we just played this show in B.C., and the sound was really horrible. So our singer Gymbo screamed at the soundman--that he'd better fix the sound quick or he was going to fuck this girl in the front row in front of everybody. Well, it ended up the girl in the front row was the soundman's daughter, so the guy just turned off the P.A., took his daughter and left."

Chaos follows these guys around everywhere they go. At their last stop at Foufs a couple of months back, singer Gymbo started the show, as usual, by smashing a beer bottle over his head. Although blood gushed out of his head, he refused to go to the hospital until the show was done. Instead, a makeshift turban made of gaffer tape was wrapped around his ol' noggin.

"Y'see, when you smash a beer bottle," elaborates Bonehead, "you must do it with the label first. That way the glass shatters around you instead of getting shards going into your brain. When you've been on the road for as long as we have you just pick stuff like that up."

Being on the road has always been a huge part of the Abortions' punk rock lives. In the early days, when these nomads got the white line fever, they would just jump in their bus and stay for as long as they wanted wherever they wanted. Which meant months in exotic locales like London, Ontario, or the Fouf's parking lot.

"Now that we have seven kids collectively and I'm running my own label (God Records), it's a bit hard to do that stuff," says Bonehead. "Now we even stay in hotels and ask for towels at the show. I never thought this band would ever ask for towels when we play." I guess something's got to mop up the blood. :

The Dayglo Abortions play with B.F.G. at Foufounes on Monday, December 13, 8pm, $6