by JOHNSON CUMMINS

"We were just in Las Vegas and we ran into Celine Dion’s husband," recounts Sainte Catherines singer/shit-disturber Hugo Mudie from a tour stop. Hold the phone a minute here - these hometown punk heroes were rubbing shoulders with the softspoken, orange-tinted titan of pop René Angelil?! It seems the boys ran into the man near the nickel slots of this senior-citizen haven in the desert. Upon explaining that they were poor Quee-beckers in a strange land, René, big-hearted man he is, was only to quick to hand out free tickets for Celine’s fiasco - I mean, concert. "Yeah, the Celine Dion show was really funny. We just snuck in beers, drank and laughed our asses off."

This is just par for the course when Mudie and his band of hardcore heroes hit the road, this time in support of their new CD The Art of Arrogance. A pretty natch title for their CD too, since Mudie has no problem slinging the mud around. One track in particular may have a certain band’s baggy pants tied in a knot. The tune in question is a reworking of Simple Plan’s title No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls, which Mudie reworked as "No Pads, No Helmets... Just a Bunch of Dicks." Truth be told, outside of the title the actual song is not about them, but Mudie explains why the title stuck. "I just think that they’re ruining everything for the punk community. People everywhere now think that punk is Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and Simple Plan and it’s just sad because it’s not."

Word has it that Simple Plan have yet to hear the song but Mudie isn’t exactly shaking in his Chuck Taylors. "I hope that song would start a fight between us and them because they’re pretty small guys and we’re tough," he laughs. "This band is just about getting drunk with your friends, fucking things up and just having fun," Mudie says, and if that includes doing that while Celine Dion caws to a room full of pasty retirees, then so be it.

CD launches at Café Chaos, with Fifth Hour Hero, the Paperbacks and Full Count on June 21 and Hands of Death, Lost Kidz and Daddy Hands on June 22. Both shows 9pm, $6 or $10 for both

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