by JOHNSON CUMMINS

All bands at one time or another have suffered the dreaded effects of LSD - Lead Singer Disease. Lead singers are just about the most irritating people on God's green acre, but if you're playing heavy riff-rock, there just doesn't seem to be any way to avoid 'em.

Along with fellow molten instrumental riffmeisters like the Fucking Champs, Vancouver's Removal have also wised up to idea of singer-free rock. "None of us could sing, so we just thought we wouldn't have one," says drummer Ernie Hawkins. "The funny thing is when we get people who just don't understand what we do and offer to sing for us. Thankfully the samples have become a lot more prominent, so we get less of those people."

Removal haven't lanced the boil of the rock 'n' roll singer completely yet, as they have started a seven-inch single series wherein different luminaries such as D.O.A.'s Joey Shithead, No Means No's Rob Wright, Danko Jones and more lay down vocals over some of Removal's past material. "It started off as a bit of an homage to the pioneers of punk, but now it's expanded into having Devon Townsend from Strapping Young Lad sing, and we also had Snake from Voivod, which was great. The only American we've got so far was Mike Watt. Getting all of those people was a lot more organic than people may think, as opposed to going for a popular rock star. That wasn't the idea."

On Removal's new CD The Strong Silent Type, the trio manages to fill a lot of space, but the unique approach to samples shifting in and out of the foreground is what will really differentiate them from the legions of fumbling rockers with samplers. True, now that people are getting hip to Removal's instrumentality, fewer would-be lead singers are hassling them after shows. Unfortunately, they've now set themselves up as a magnet for the absolute bottom feeder of the rock 'n' roll food chain - the record collector. "Yeah, now we get people who catch that we sampled some ethereal sounds from Blade Runner and stuff from Reveen hypnotism records."

With guests At Café Chaos on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 9pm, $5

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