Noisemakers 2000: Back to the Stone Age

>> The Gruesomes reunite for 2000 BC

By MICHAEL CITROME

They're wild, they're crazy, they're the tyrants of teen trash. It's time to get your Cuban boots and mopeds out of the cellar, because the Gruesomes are back!

"My most hated episode is the one with the girl who's an empath, and because it's set in the '60s, instead of backgrounds, there's just solid colours." Gruesomes bassist John Davis is speaking, of course, of Star Trek. It's appropriate that campy television would serve as inspiration for a band that took its name from a monstrous family/band on The Flintstones.

In their heyday from 1987-'89, the Gruesomes--Jerry Alvarez, John Davis, Bobby Beaton and John Knoll--were the reigning kings of raunchy garage rawk, packing in audiences from Montreal to Moose Jaw, and releasing two EPs and three albums in that time. After they broke up, the band, and their sound, sort of faded away. The members took day jobs and left their striped turtlenecks hung up in the closet. Some of them even cut their hair.

But now, for the year 2000, the Gruesomes are back, with a new album and gigs in support of it. Coming out on Tyrant Records, brainchild of Kingpins bassist and Stomp records co-founder Jordan Swift, the new disc is tentatively entitled The Gruesomes 2000 BC, and will feature 13 tracks, both originals and covers. Among the planned covers are "You Aren't Using Your Head" by '60s Seattle fuzz-punkers The Wailers.

"Bobby wanted to record 'Laisser Nous Vivre' by Les Lutins, but I pointed out that we already ripped it off on a previous album," John says.

The Gruesomes will also be re-recording "Things She's Done to Me," off their mega-rare 45 on Primitive, of which less than a 1,000 were pressed. In fact, the idea for the new disc came out of some discussion about putting out a Gruesomes greatest hits comp, which was scrapped because of the difficulty in finding the master tapes. As John explains, "There's been talk for years about a Gruesomes greatest hits record--and apparently even a demand for it."

Indeed, there was a big buzz in the Canadian music scene when the new record was first announced. In addition to planned launches in Montreal and Ottawa, the Gruesomes have been invited to play at the prestigious Molson Canadian Musicweek festival in Toronto. "We've got the closing slot at 11 o'clock on Saturday night," John adds.

All this is pretty amazing for a band who, when they first appeared, sounded nothing like then popular groups.

"Back when we were playing, we were up against synth bands and stuff, that's what was popular at the time." he says. "Now, four bums playing guitar is what's on TV and on the radio all the time. When we were playing, it was inconceivable that bands like Green Day would make the Top 40."

And the Gruesomes' old fans will not be disappointed by the reunited group. "We didn't play to bowl head geeks, we played to college guys," says John. "That was our audience. The same people who liked us would go see a Dayglo Abortions show. We look different, I've got short hair and a beard. Bob has short hair--he can't grow it long because he's in the Kingpins."

The new album will be released in May on both LP and CD. In the meantime, you can catch Bobby and John in the Stomp Ska All Stars every Thursday in January at Le Swimming. l