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TromBonus - 67 - Pezz
118 Plays28 days ago
Time once again to pop sugar tabs from disembodied heads! Checkered Past digs in on the maybe Ska, maybe not Ska debut album of CanCon band Pezz (different Pezz hardcore punk fans!). Rob and Engineer Joey dig in on the bands one and only record, Watoosh! blind listening from front to back. Then, Rob pulls the rug out and reveals who the band would become and listens to their far more popular modern iteration. This one may surprise you! Or not!
Host: Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Joey
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
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Transcript
Introduction and Show Premise
00:00:00
Speaker
blap wa bla It's another trombonus episode, it's just Rob engineer Joey in a pocket full of dreams as we get back to can-gone baby and pop some sugary candy tablets from plastic heads. It's Pez on Checkered Past the Skycast.
00:00:39
Speaker
What up, Checkerheads? Welcome to Checker Pass, the Skyed Castle's Slinnin' Rob. The show where rock and roll high school football heroes and ah no effects as the decline of the Western Standard Timelization explore the history and impact of a different band each episode hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Rob and this is my co-host with the most toast, Engineer Joey. Hello. ah Hey, what was that last word there in that pun run?
00:01:06
Speaker
Uh, no effects is the decline of Western standard. Timelization. Timelization. Hey. Cause the, the, the movies called the decline of Western. Civil. Western civilization. So I said Western standard. Timelization. Uh, okay. and Yeah, I get it. Okay.
Punk Rock Movies and Culture
00:01:24
Speaker
because I was, yeah. No, I just didn't. Yeah. I got it. Got now. Those were punk rock movies. They were. Yeah. mean That's where I was going with that. Uh, rock and roll high school. This is like.
00:01:38
Speaker
barely a movie but I've never seen okay so we don't have a pick it up where we left off for this episode but I think this is maybe a fun little like kind of intro thing to talk about but let's talk about punk movies like yeah which ones have you seen and which ones are actually any good I was actually just thinking about SLC Punk like this morning or yesterday maybe yeah matthew bullard yeah Punk's great SLC Punk sucks SLC Punk I never saw it it didn't sound great I watched like half of it it was not good Um, and another one that I can think of that I think is great is Hardcore logo. Hardcore logo. Hardcore logo is great if you American folks. I've actually you never seen it. I know the book was really popular, but I've never seen the movie. The movie's great. I've never read the book, ah but the movie's really good. it's play the It's about a hardcore band that's like going out on the road for kind of like their like last hurrah tour.
00:02:31
Speaker
Um, cool and the like it's a narrative it's narrative, right? It's not like a documentary or whatever. Uh, yeah, it's, it's, I mean, it's kind of done as if it's a documentary, but it is a narrative movie. Um, and it's, uh, the guy from the headstones is the main character. Oh, interesting. Billy talent actually, which that's where Billy talent got the name of their band from his singer from the band hardcore logo. Oh, that's wild. Yeah.
00:02:59
Speaker
ah but but it's it's really good it's kinda one of those like uh... like cool but depressing sort of flicks oh yeah uh... like much more so than s l c punk like s l c punk punk's got some like downer parts but i think is overall like a pretty entertaining movie it's pretty light hearted at the end he's like a lawyer or whatever like it's it yeah they're all just kind of being bums in that movie more than that whole thing where his dad is like i didn't sell out son i bought in is one of my like favorite lines And then like the whatever he's like, oh you're not Jesus you're Bob or whatever it was, right? Yeah yeah and Devin Sawa tripping on acid all crazy like yeah prime Prime right around idle hands time Devin Sawa was great That movie's color palette is like idle hands like it's so speaking so many of other punk rock movies I lands
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, like I'm pretty sure I'm if I'm remembering correctly. It has like a mostly like ignition records like Soundtracked like it's got an offspring and shit on it. That's pretty pump movie It's being remade apparently. Oh Really? Yeah, I don't know. Why is Seth Green still in it. That's all no problem people I actually saw Devin Sala tweeting about it and he has nothing to do with it But he's like good on you. Go for it. I guess Whatever money I was going to make off of it, I made already. Yeah, exactly. Right. Green Room. That's my favorite. I have not seen it, but I you you keep telling me it's very good. I got to watch it once. Frickin awesome. I think I like it because it's really like like I like a good genre movie. I don't love horror movies and I don't know if it's particularly a horror movie, more of a thriller, but it's super low budge and the director made Blue Ruin, which I really like, too. And yeah, it's about a punk band fighting Nazis in their green room.
00:04:52
Speaker
Yeah, don't they get booked onto a show on a tour and then when they show up it's at like a Nazi club and they don't know it until they're in there already or something kind of? Yeah, and then the first song they play is Nazi Punk's Fuck Off, the Dead Kennedy song. like And the songs they play are like legitimately like hardcore punk, like one one and a half minute hardcore punk songs. bra like It's actually like a legit punk movie. I think it's i think it's awesome. but I don't know if we'll almost even argue Scott Pilgrim versus the world because Sex Bob Bomb is punk as fuck and they're awesome.
00:05:21
Speaker
Also, i there are two movies from the 80s. No ones from the 80s ones from the 90s called suburbia. Oh, yeah one of them is like totally like che the 80s one is like totally cheesy fashion punk like i don't even remember the plot i saw it when i was like a teenager and i was getting into that type of thing but it is like absolutely cheese punk 80s cheese punk central and then the 90s one is a completely different movie it just has the same name but it is all it it's kind of like uh
00:05:54
Speaker
like an indie like 90s slacker kind of movie about a bunch of kids that live like in suburbia and kind of get into trouble over a night or a couple of days or something it's kind of one of those like encapsulated in a few hours sort of movies I think ah but I remember enjoying that one too a lot i again haven't seen it in a real long time but it was pretty good when I was a teenager getting into punk rock I haven't seen. Also here, Night of the Living Dead has a bunch of punks in it. Also, I haven't seen that movie, but yeah. people Living Dead has the Satan costume. This is a way of life, which is like beautiful. and Yeah, that's that's. That's the other one I haven't seen. Repo Man is the other one that all the punks tell me I got to watch. I've never seen re like like Repo Man with the with like.
00:06:46
Speaker
ah The guy from Mighty Ducks? No, not not that repo men. Repo men. no That's repo men. I think it's a it's ah whatever. ah Fuck, i the guy's got three names. The not the musical. ah Harry Dean Stanton. That's the guy who's in it. Harry Dean Stanton. Yeah. And it was in the 80s and it's a punk movie. Anyway.
00:07:11
Speaker
That's all. but Maybe this wasn't interesting. Maybe it wasn't worth good googling. Maybe. ah But yeah,
Exploration of Pez and Their Music
00:07:17
Speaker
anyways, getting back to ah rock and roll high school, I sure remember it just not having any fucking plot like at all. Right. Because isn't it like a riff on like the the hard days night, but with fucking the Ramones instead? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Bands don't if you get the opportunity to move, make a movie, don't just remake a Beatles movie.
00:07:41
Speaker
And Spice Girls did it. but all every Every time a band gets the opportunity, like, here's a budget to do a movie, they're like, let's just redo a Beatles movie. Like, don't do that, guys. yeah Come on. You're done. It's being done. It's being done. It's be told and done. um Right. That's terrible. All right, let's go on. Sure. This episode is going to be a blind listen for our engineer, Joey. Yeah. We're going to be talking about a band from Canada.
00:08:10
Speaker
called Pez with two Z's. I've been told, and do not look into it, is what Rob said. Do not look into it. It is very vital that you know nothing about this band. I do know nothing. We're going to listen to their entire record, Wattoosh. When I messaged you in the group chat, and I was like, we're going to listen to Wattoosh by Pez, you said those were two words, I guess, or something along those lines. It was.
00:08:34
Speaker
but So um were the the whole record's all lined up. I'm gonna get Joey's impressions as we go, because I really want you to get the full experience about listening to this this band and a piece of Canadian sky history i and get to learn a little bit more about it. So Joey, are you prepared? Yes, I'm ready. So let's kick it off. This is the song Eminem by Pez. Okay, here we go.
00:09:17
Speaker
That's quite some vocal delivery.
00:09:24
Speaker
I like the groove in this song. Yeah.
00:09:41
Speaker
This is pretty sweet. Yeah, they're talking about emos. They're not happy about them. I had to look up the lyrics because I wasn't sure what the song was about. I was like, oh, he's shitting on emos. I get it. Which is very enjoyable for a ska band. I gotta get
00:10:09
Speaker
Yeah, 1999 when this came out. OK, so that would have been in the have the drive-in time. Yeah. And this was self-released. Wait a second. Yeah. Oh, wait, hold on. Let me ah wait. Let's go into the second song. I'm going to I want I got to hear that second song. I have I have a theory, but I need to hear more. Right. First of all, what first of all, I want to like.
00:10:37
Speaker
one thing i want you to kind of think in the back of your head is is this truly ska music how how ska did you find that first song i mean it it seemed pretty ska i guess until the drums and stuff kicked in and then it was just sort of like a staccato guitar thing It's kind of gonna be the question that I think we should be asking ourselves. because this I've seen it online so much, where that's this has been qualified at Scott because it's like offbeat. Right, it's got offbeat. I don't know. I i will also say, like to some degree, maybe it deserves a little bit of that, because I bet you there's a bit of a Scott influence, but only in the case that they're trying to sort of like forge that sound into a different thing.
00:11:20
Speaker
Right. Like they're kind of taking ah the flavor of Ska and doing something different with it. Right. OK. Yeah. So but keep listening. And maybe maybe we'll pick up the Ska juice. It's the essence of Ska in a carbonated water. You got it. Yeah. Like like even like an extract vanilla extract kind of. it's Totally. Yeah. Flavor your pancakes. All right. Yeah. Fairy tale is song two. OK.
00:11:57
Speaker
That bass tone is fucking ripping. Yeah, I love the bass. Sounds really good, hey. Yeah.
00:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, this is just like kind of a weird punk song, kind of. Yeah. Yeah, so this is definitely doesn't have that same kind of rhythm in it.
00:12:27
Speaker
But then there's this.
00:12:37
Speaker
want to say maybe, like, it does feel like if you're just like a casual listener, you're probably like, that's Scott. Yeah, yeah. OK. Is this band at least the guitarist and singer from Billie Town?
00:12:56
Speaker
I'm sorry, who? Billy Talent. Ah, it took you two songs to figure it out, Joey. you It was because that vocal delivery, I was like, this sounds like Mars Volta or something. But then I was like, no, I have heard that. And with that wild staccato guitar, because Billy Talent does that wild star staccato guitar thing. Correct. Yes. And it's weird that I talked about hardcore logo earlier and did not know what we were getting into. Just let it go. Because I was like, well, guess what?
00:13:28
Speaker
You know, Billy Talent is the singer or is the main character in Hardcore Logo. Of course I know that. It's like the first thing that anybody who ever hears Billy Talent hears about is that, oh, the guy is not named Billy Talent, right? Yeah, yeah which is like. Every band that's in the name of one guy, you know, what like, like there are I bet you the number of bands that are named after a guy. I bet 50 percent of them are not.
00:13:54
Speaker
the main guy from that at least at least 50 percent all right so now you have a new lens to look at this in right is that to be honest i would prefer it already were two songs in and i think i would prefer listening to this then current billy talent like i don't know if i've gone into it on pod before but Billy Talent is because they're Can-Con, they're a band that you hear often in Canada. Like if you're listening to any sort of alternative or rock radio, you're gonna hear, into the river you know, like that type of stuff pretty regularly. ah But they are not a band that I've ever been into.
00:14:37
Speaker
No, hey, no, I like even when though I had I had a serious Billy Talent moment when they first came out. yeah Yeah.
Pez to Billy Talent: Musical Transition
00:14:44
Speaker
Oh, yeah. First two records for sure. The third one, a little bit after that, I was out like I didn't do it for me anymore. I i will admit that they. I feel like they've stuck to their sound pretty well. Like when I hear a new Billy Talent song, it doesn't seem like they're. following musical trends. You know what I mean? Like like they they're doing their thing and it, the sound progresses, but they're not progressing into something more commercial or that sells, but you know what I mean? They're not quote unquote selling out, I find, but it also isn't like, it's, I don't re like, I never hear new Billy talent song and be like, hot damn, I gotta listen to that new Billy talent record.
00:15:27
Speaker
You know what I mean? Yeah, we'll have more thoughts on Billie Talent as we go. I think we'll just like keep listening to tracks and drop our Billie Talent opinions as we go, because that's what's going to come out. Yeah, yeah, totally. So track three is Neeta. She was the one that would make me feel so fine. OK, I'm pretty into this.
00:15:57
Speaker
It's like ah Tommy the Cat. Yeah yeah totally. Tom Waits wasn't slow and boring sometimes.
00:16:17
Speaker
This is weird. No one ever said that they were just like normal. No, and I'm digging it like I like the dude's voice though like It's man. I don't want to say I like it I'm not a huge fan of it, but it is very distinct and He knows how to use it
00:16:54
Speaker
His vocals delivered? Yeah, 100%. Oh yeah. like he he really Like he really knows what he's doing with that wacky voice he's got. Yeah, which is I would I would argue that's like the most especially when they first came out. I remember that conversation where it was just like because I would have still been in high school when Billy Talent was first around and it was like beloved or hated vocals for sure. Either you were in or you were out and the lyrics make no sense. That's what initially put me off of the bat was I did not like the vocals. Right.
00:17:30
Speaker
And I think that that was the delineating factor for a lot of people to write. It was just like that. And it to your point, it's like nothing commercial about it. Don't sound like anything. No. Somehow we're able to get a hit song on the radio. Yeah. Well, and I don't know. Do you know if that band.
00:17:48
Speaker
was where they kind of like lifted up in the way that say some 41 or something like I don't I don't know how they got as popular as they are being kind of as weird as they are you know yeah it's kind of it's kind of weird I bet you they but probably got like a Oh, what do I want to say? Like a big producer maybe, but that's my, maybe my gut. Um, I guess I could find that out. You know what? Let's put a pin in that. Cause I might circle back on this, uh, later on in the episode. So okay we'll kind of figure all that out. yeah yeah Um, but let's continue rocking on. Uh, next one's called mother's native instrument. Yeah.
00:18:52
Speaker
Oh yeah, that tan though. Give it to me. There it is. I'd say versus the Billy Talent approach, the bass is working a lot harder.
00:19:19
Speaker
like i was so anti to this guy's voice when i first when billy callen first started coming out and now i'm just kind of neutral on them but i'm loving this like i'm loving his voice on this for whatever reason i like that he's doing weird little hooks like isn't that fun yeah and he's like like i said he's really working that weird yeah yeah thing he's got going on i like it
00:19:44
Speaker
ah Ian Desai is the name of the the the guitar guy and who's been in Billy Talent ever all all the way through. Pompadour. And it's got the the hair. Yeah. The it's almost like a pompadour. Yeah. It's straight up in the like ah the front of his head. Yeah. um He's a wild guitar player. He likes to not. He's like the way Salin is anti vibrato. He is anti letting notes ring out.
00:20:11
Speaker
He's like, no, I'm staccato playing everything. Yeah. And he's my hand does not stop moving. Yeah. And he's not a big play like I'm in the trash metal band. Not a big fan of heavy distortion either. Like, oh, he likes a lot of clean. All of this is all weird, like bright, like ah really a tacky clean tones. And that's always been the kind of a staple of Billy Talents sound as well.
00:20:35
Speaker
Which makes it a little bit more accessible in a way, right? Yeah, like as I'm listening to this. It keeps you out of being butt rock, right? For sure. And as I'm listening to this, it's like it's crazy how many hallmarks of the Billy Talent sound are in these songs without it sounding anything like Billy Talent, other than the guy's voice is like pretty unmistakable.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I think it's like kind of weird that it's basically the same band. Yeah. yeah but But like it's that like a totally different sound, but with like a lot of the same sound in it. Very, I mean, good kudos. Kudos to them for being able to re structure their sound in such a way that it's different, but like they're not doing a whole lot of different stuff, you know?
00:21:24
Speaker
And I'll go say, we're five songs in and pretty distinctive songs, like they they don't really sound, ter they they're stitched together pretty well. They sound pretty unique and and distinctive. Yeah, there's like no saminess. Yeah, almost. Yeah. Like every song it has its own sound, but it doesn't sound the same. Yeah, totally. The next song is called Recap. Oh, is it is not Bird in the Basement? ah Sorry, it's Bird in the Basement.
00:22:09
Speaker
Who's almost back in that... garage-y sort of... sound too? This feels a little bit more Billy Talent-y. Yeah, this is definitely more of a Billy Talent vibe to it for sure. There's like a maybe-scotch thing happening. Another maybe-scotch. They just like like to whip out the maybe-scotch all the time. It's on the downstroke though.
00:22:37
Speaker
So... They're on like the downbeat rather than the upbeat.
00:22:47
Speaker
I mean, I'm very curious to know whether or not they were trying to do Scott or not, not trying, but if they were pulling like I can't, I don't know if they were pulling from Scott or just doing their own thing. It's very difficult to tell. It's possible. It's possible that they're just doing their own thing. It just happened to have a Scotty feel to it. Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:12
Speaker
Dude can fucking rip a yeah. ah Yeah, he's got like, ah reminds me of like Howlin' Pell from The Hives. Yeah, totally. Yeah, i maybe that's why I always dug Billy Talon is because I kind of got a little bit of a Hives feel from them. Like, I mean, they sound a little bit more like the Stooges. And ah whereas these these guys kind of maybe sound a little bit more like offbeat, but I feel like their vocal delivery is a little similar.
00:23:42
Speaker
Yeah, totally, more I pitched and wild in this case, but like a similar, they're doing a similar thing. Like a rock star, they're like, yeah, big rock stars, wow. Yeah. Right? Yeah, yeah. um but Now we play recap. Now we...
00:23:57
Speaker
Now I recapped saying recap. Yeah, it's just a song that like goes over the last five songs. Just comparts the whole last five songs in it. Fuck, that is genius. Someone has to do that. That's such a great idea.
00:24:42
Speaker
It's like, and then, but the drums doing like a surf beat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, this part is not scum, but it does have an organ. But it does have an organ.
00:24:59
Speaker
Yeah, if someone showed me this song and said this is a Billy Town song, I would be like, yep. Yeah. Like, this is for sure in that realm. Yeah, and it would be in the middle of the record, you know, with between a few, like, radio bangers and then a couple more radio bangers, right? Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
00:25:23
Speaker
Their version of a ballad. Not quite, but kind of, right? Yeah, yeah. Man, a bass player is giving her. Yeah, it's the biggest difference. Just way more bass. Just bassy, bassy, bassy. Totally. Like lots of lots of movement happening in the bass where the guitar is just kind of more textural, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way to think about it. Like they're in Sonic Youth or something like that. Or like you said, Primus earlier.
00:25:52
Speaker
You got it, Primus, that gets guitar ah guitar player is playing a different song, every Primus song. Dude, Larry Lalonde is like- He puts his headphones in, he's like, I'm playing a different song, I don't care what you guys are playing. Larry Lalonde is a fucking genius, man. Like, even if you're not into Primus, that that dude is on another level playing guitar. But I mean, you kind of have to be, if you're playing with Les Claypool, I guess.
00:26:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's cool that they, because he never changed. It was always the drummer, right? That changed in Primus? Yeah, I think so. And even then, they've only had two or three. I don't think they ever rotated out the guitarist. Say again. I'm pretty sure Primus has only ever had two or three drummers, haven't they? Like, I'm pretty sure the drummer's been... Yeah, but each of them was like big in their own right. There was like Mantra and then like a couple other guys, like they all played kind of differently because like the mid 2000s, Primus was kind of a little bit more like,
00:26:42
Speaker
Like like rap rocky, but then the early 90s stuff was like Like funky and then they kind of became a radio rock band towards the end. I don't know. Yeah and i like listen to changed it I listen to tales from the punch bowl kind of recently because I was thinking about how fucking ripping southbound packet room is and God that songs good and I had tales from the punch bowl when I was a kid It was actually one of my first like maybe dozen CDs. I remember getting it at like a pawn shop or something for real cheap. yeah um And i I didn't realize how cemented in my brain that album was because I hadn't listened to it probably maybe since the 90s or at least the early 2000s. And there was
00:27:25
Speaker
Weird deep cuts on that album that I'm like, oh I remember this like I remember all the words to this song for some reason Which is weird because there's a lot of words and they're all weird. Yeah like there're always wins to them stories about what they're They're kind of like I mentioned Tom Waits earlier and like Les Claypool writes like Tom Waits, but if Tom Waits was like Trying to be funny you know what i mean Yeah, just like eating mushrooms and cracking jokes. That's like the yeah like singing about like twisted Willy Wonka characters.
00:28:00
Speaker
that's a good way to put it. I was a sea of cheese guy. That was my, uh, that was my primus record. I could probably go back and just like rip through that one. Uh, I love sea of cheese. Um, but yeah, I punch bowl too. Like I really thought they had a run there where almost every record they put out was, was just a banger. Well, yeah, it would have been like pork soda. And then he's cheese. Like though that three album run is pretty badass, if you're into that style. Yeah, I think Brown Album I wasn't as into. I liked Anti-Pop pretty good. There were some pretty catchy songs on it, but those three are just like, that's the best. We run way off topic to talk about Primus. It's not a Primus episode, but hell yeah. Hey, you know what, listener? Primus has a weird reputation because they're kind of a jam band, but listen to those three records. Pork soda, fucking Sailing the Seas of Cheese, and Tales from the Punchbowl. It's a good listen. You'll have fun. Yeah, for sure.
00:28:56
Speaker
What are we on next? When I was a little girl? When I was a little girl. Yep. Autobiographical. Yep. From a band with no women in it.
00:29:22
Speaker
He doesn't play a lot of riffs, but I feel like when he busts out a good riff it is actually pretty good. Yeah. He is undeniably, whether or not you like Billy Talent or even this, he is undeniably a killer guitar player. Yeah. Like he's throwing some weird chords in there, he's doing weird little, like it is, playing guitar like this is challenging. Yeah.
00:29:51
Speaker
So I think they did so well with like post hardcore fans, too. Yeah. Well, I mean, like I was saying, I was kind of getting to like an at the drive in kind of vibe from them. And I feel like people who are in at the drive or who into at the drive in probably would have been into this. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. This had a real like.
00:30:11
Speaker
it Not quite to the, it it wouldn't have been heavy enough for like your thricy Thursday crowd, but certainly you're at the drive-in. Your Mars Volta listener, maybe. Mars Volta, all that stuff. Yeah, 100%. Sunny day real estate, like those would have been right up your alley, right? For sure.
00:30:27
Speaker
They had crossover appeal with a lot of like underground scenes. I think it was also kind of part of it, right? Yeah, this is a band that I could see... I'm pretty sure they're a Southern Ontario type of band. This is Saga. Yeah, so like I could see like a mixed band bill with this band on it would be... like that They could fit on any mixed band bill.
00:30:49
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like they're weird and especially at that time in Canadian music too, that would have been like, there would have been a lot of ah kind of just pre emo bands and stuff that were touring around or like pre the burst of emo. They would have been emo bands at the time, obviously, but like right before emo kind of exploded, they would have been doing like tours like, yeah, they this would have been a good amalgamation of sounds to having your band if you were trying to get on a lot of shows. And yes, I don't think that's intentional. I just think it worked out that way. But yeah, exactly. Yeah. A lot of what I feel like a lot of their success was not intentional, ah but they just did the right thing to run with it. Right. Yeah. Like seemed to be the direction that it went. um Last song before we take a break. ah Warmth of Windows. They're usually kind of cold.
00:31:47
Speaker
It's kind of cold today, so that that makes me feel warmer thinking about the window I'm looking at. So warm. See? That was a cold, like a grill. Yeah. This one's a lot of AFI. Would have been at the same time. Yeah, yeah.
00:32:11
Speaker
This guy's gotta be like a really good front man, right? Like, do you know anything about him? I think, yeah, I believe I saw them at Warped Tour one time and I remember them being really good. Yeah, like he... I feel like they would be a good live band. Like this band, or Billy Talon. Like, you know, like I'm not super into Billy Talon's music, but I feel like seeing him live would probably be pretty sick.
00:32:41
Speaker
Yeah, like that's almost like a pop punk hook. Almost. That's exactly what I was going to say. I was like, that's that would have been just a straight up pop punk song. yeah Yeah. But they weren't using just like a regular pop punk like chord progression. No, like they're being weird kind of lined in. Yeah. This band is all about being weird. All about it.
00:33:04
Speaker
Are they Scott again? Are they? I don't know. That first one, that Eminem, I feel like. Yeah. Like but that. I feel like that one's a Scott. Yeah. um But of it maybe they just did one Scott song and then the rest just was like, yeah, we kind of throw in some upbeats, but not really. Yeah. Well, the other half. Well, we'll get it. We'll get the other half. um or however many anyway Yeah. So maybe there'll be more Scott.
00:33:32
Speaker
Maybe. That's what you'll find out, listener.
Legal and Name Change Discussion
00:33:34
Speaker
And so will I.
00:33:50
Speaker
Welcome back to Checkered Past, engineer Joey and Rob here, and we're talking about Canada's PES. So let's go on to the next song from Watouche. This is Square Root of Me, track nine.
00:34:09
Speaker
Wow. That's quite the rhythm. It's like video game music now. Yeah.
00:34:21
Speaker
Like, that's not Scott but that that bass line could be from a Scott song.
00:34:32
Speaker
Maybe it was just the bass player. Maybe just the bass player was like, I'm rude as fuck and everyone else was like, let's make a punk band and he was like, I'm doing some Scott deal with it.
00:34:52
Speaker
That rip is cool though. Did you like that? The bass player did like a specials thing. I think I cracked the code. I think the bass player is the ska. And everybody else is along for the ride. Yeah, yeah, totally. All right.
00:35:21
Speaker
We got got a couple more tracks off this record before we do something else. This next one is called Absorbed, track 10. Absorbed.
00:35:31
Speaker
Oh, guitar and bass doubling things, that's fun.
00:36:19
Speaker
Maybe if we get enough cards to give out, we'll have a CBSC card game.
00:36:45
Speaker
Also, I like, oh, wow, that's fun. So this band started in 1993. Really? So this was six years into their run before they put out their first and only full length. like They had some demos and EPs before this, but this was their only real official release. It must have been like young lads when they started this band, no? Because those guys can't be like a whole lot older than like us.
00:37:14
Speaker
Um, that's a good question. You know what? Let's find out the the lead singer's name is Ben. cow It's like a Ukrainian Polish name that I can't pronounce. I'm not going to butcher it. Um, he's 48. So, you know, it's a little bit older. yeah Actually that makes sense. A generation older, that you know, but for 93, that would have meant this, like, this would have been their first band. they they This would have been a high school band. Yes. Yeah. Correct. And it was. Yeah. Cool. But six years put out something right. Kind of cool to go. What a hustle. Yeah. And also like,
00:37:46
Speaker
It makes sense that the guitar work is and actually the bass work ah kind of everything is so like these are not beginner musicians on a first album. You know what I mean? Like there's a lot of bands that started high school and even if they wait a while to put out their first album, it still kind of has a little bit of a high school kind of vibe to it. You know what I mean? Yeah, a little bit like maybe just the songs were written at that time or whatever.
00:38:15
Speaker
But this doesn't have that. like this is like These are fully like musicians who have been playing for a while, you know? Yeah, and just a quick ah Wikipedia Google says here that ah Ian just saw that guitar guy. He was an animator for Angela Anaconda, and the singer worked at H and&B. So hey, there you go. Oh. That's cool. H&B, bro. You're H&B, bro.
00:38:42
Speaker
But in, you know, Mississauga. Yeah. is that do American listeners know what Angela Anaconda is? If you don't know what it is, knowing that there is somebody animating it like that, the animation is quite impressive and it's quite ah off-putting. It is. it It shares a lot of the weirdness of the this man, I would say.
00:39:11
Speaker
So if one of the guitarists was animating for it, I can see why. Yeah. Check out and it. Like it is a weird. It's very funny. It's a pretty funny show. Actually, it was kind of one of those. It'll wait up quite well. Cartoon network. No, back whatever the Canadian one was. Teletoon. Teletoon. Yeah, it was like a little kind of a late day teletoon. And it uses like actual faces. Like pictures of people for the faces.
00:39:38
Speaker
but everything else is kind of animated like a jib jab cartoon. Sort of. It does look like it. It looks like a mix of like a jib jab with, um, the, the cartoon from South Park, whatever those, those guys were. turned badty Those guys. turned Yeah. Terence and Phillip also mix those together. Also we may be dating ourselves by talking about jib jab.
00:39:59
Speaker
Might be dating ourselves or talking about Angela Anaconda in Soap Park. True that. That's a lot of just ripping right through the early aughts, right? All right, so there's one more track off. Why too shh? Is this what I think it is? You might know, Joey. Oh, wow. I'm already impressed. Yeah, what's the song, Joey? It's a tragically hip song. New Orleans is sinking. From the Tragically Hip song, possibly. Not from me, but it is for a lot of people. Yeah. Hell yeah. Do it, boys. That's the way to do it. Those fucking rules. I hope they carried this on into Billytown. Me too, actually.
00:40:53
Speaker
Fuck yeah. You know, Tragically Hip was a band that I did not appreciate until I was an adult. Like, till I until i was a bit older. Like, definitely past 20. And I totally get why there's a segment of the Canadian population that doesn't like them, but they're a fucking Canadian treasure, in my opinion.
00:41:18
Speaker
and i i I also had a moment where like that like you know we we've talked on the show before about just like like Canadian rock like that's just like the most middle rock yeah right where it you you can't put like a qualifier on it like it it has no genre that's out of rock yeah right yeah like this like Sloan and and those kind of bands yeah um and i i I never appreciated them until I was a little bit older And i now I'm into it, although I will say I still struggle real hard with the band. I can't do it. Yeah, I'm not into the band either. It's it's ah so boring. Yeah. The band is like.
00:41:58
Speaker
like there's something about them that goes into that americana thing that i dislike i think so but it's like the it's canadiana but not canadiana like i don't know if there's something about that i'm not into as well but but tragically hip like fuck man those guys can write some songs and yeah gordon downie like i'm i'm sure he has some sort of or was given some sort of Order of Canada thing, but but like right him and Leonard Cohen, like as far as lyricists from Canada are like...
00:42:33
Speaker
top tier like some of the best like his like you can listen to i don't know maybe that's what it was maybe that's what it was about getting older that i started to realize about tragically hips music is like there's so much in the lyrics like it's such a he's such a cinematic lyricist that unless you kind of know the context like because a lot of it's about canadian history and things, you know, like, like stuff that actually happened in Canada. And once you know the context and like ah listen back to the song, it's like really engaging, I find. But so maybe that's why I didn't get it when I was younger, because I just didn't know the but history behind a lot of it or something. That's how I felt about that song, The Last Saskatchewan Pirate. OK, yeah. It's historical. So.
00:43:28
Speaker
the old North Saskatchewan going up and down, being a pirate. Too much Canada on this show. Too much Canada on this episode. We're just canning up our listeners. We're so niche.
00:43:43
Speaker
so naked I'm just alienating. um All right, so I put these bonus songs, because I put them as bonus. I would have i would have titled what they actually are, because I was like, what if Joey did not figure it out until the very end? Yeah, totally. I was like, how how deep into this can I go? And so I didn't want to give anything away. So play bonus one, and you'll see you yeah I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. Right. That is a Billy Townsend.
00:44:12
Speaker
Yeah, so then I just was like, let's toss a few Billy Talent songs at the end just to see you the progression this band takes. Why not? Let's carry it forward. I am interested now to listen to kind of back-to-back. Yeah, see what the change is. Because it's only two years between the last run and this one. So were you able to determine what it was that made them decide to reformat? Or you know what I mean? like chain Well, change what i will say once once this is over, I'll tell you why they changed their name. OK. But basically, getting a getting a major label and a big producer ultimately is what made them switch their sound over. Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah, like, listen to how much less the bass is doing. Same bass player, too. Yeah. Just like a different ah totally different kind of approach to playing the songs.
00:45:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's just, I don't know, maybe it's because it's on the radio all the time, but it just doesn't do much for me. I
00:45:30
Speaker
i mean it's better to Nickelback. Would have been at the same time, too, right? Yeah, like like, I mean, as far as like when you put on an alternative or a rock radio station in Canada, like you're going to hear Nickelback, you're going to hear Billy Talon. I would rather hear that song, even though that song doesn't really do a whole lot for me.
00:45:49
Speaker
You know, like it's it's more up my alley, I guess. And so here's some other, so this guy, this guy who recorded it, his name is Golden Brown, which is, that's his nickname. Incredible. It's not his real name? I'm so happy that that's what his nickname was. He also produced Three Days Grace, The Tea Party, Thornley, Metric, okay and Tragically hip. Wow, those are some like real Canadian heavy hitters Yeah ah ah Golden platinum award-winning records here, right dude's got this. Oh Yeah for sure and of course this record Billy Talent one is triple platinum huge record huge they numbered their records and
00:46:39
Speaker
Yes, the first three at least. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, this was a massive song. This is where that River Below song came from, right? Like, this is a lot of big songs on here. but River Below, in my opinion, is ah like, I like it better try honesty for sure. Oh, yeah, it it was the the record's good. i I haven't listened to it in a minute. I kind of want to go back and check it out again, see how much it holds up. But I remember really liking Billy Talent one. um Weird lyrics and everything.
00:47:07
Speaker
Um, if you want to know why they changed their name, and I wonder if this will pick up on there, if you can see that this is the, this is the BYO book again, there is a band called Pez with two Z's. Just like this one. They have the same name. So guess who lost the bet? The Canadian. Canada's Pez.
00:47:29
Speaker
And so if you're going to be on a major label, like if you can be a tiny band and have the same name as another tiny band and usually it's fine. Yeah. But you get signed to a major and then it's like the the PES that came first is going to try to get that name back from you. A fun example of that in Canada ah for all you American listeners is when like Machine Head Glycerine Bush came over here. ah Like my copy of the first album, Bush album that came out is is ah by a band called Bush X.
00:47:58
Speaker
because they had to add an X because there was a 70s like prog rock Jamrock kind of band from Toronto called Bush. and And so they were allowed to be Bush like everywhere else. But that man had the naming rights in Canada. So they had to add the X and I i think eventually, and I'm pretty sure by the second or third press of that CD, they had it cleared up because I remember later copies of the the CD coming out without the X. And it's funny because if you ever view, I don't know if you can look it up or you find it or you ever see one anywhere, but the X is like very clearly added on post artwork being done.
00:48:40
Speaker
Like well like i noticed it I noticed it when I was a kid. like I remember looking at the CD and being like, that X doesn't look like it belongs there. And then learning the story and being like, oh, that X, but that's because they added it like after everything was finalized. They just like photoshopped an X on top of it and we're done.
00:48:59
Speaker
Man, so yeah, man, this is a good game idea, is like bands who had to change their name because they had the same name as another band. Hell yeah. Like I gotta hold on to that, because I'm just thinking of like X Japan had to change their name because of the punk band X. Right. Was way before them. Way before. And they wanted to tour internationally. and um But my favorite one, and and they didn't change their names, they just had a weird arrangement, was subhumans,
00:49:25
Speaker
and sub humans, right? Cause they're sub humans, Canada, sub humans, UK, right? Which is fun because they're both, they're both Commonwealth bands. So like, yeah, they're both started at basically the same time, right? Maybe they're both like, I know they're both so fucking punk rock. Like they're both like a bunch of like, like actual punks, you know, not just like rich punks. So they're like, yeah, whatever you guys, we're gonna have the same name. Who gives a shit? We were talking, confuse everybody. We were talking about punk rock movies earlier.
00:49:54
Speaker
And the van in ah in SLC Punk has a gigantic subhumans logo spray painted across the side of it. Like when they go to the salt flats, the vans like in the background, my guy huge subhumans logo, and I'm pretty sure it's subhumans canada is it not i'm pretty sure it's the the one with the with the skull face that that's subhumans canada yeah i could i could be wrong but i think it is but which is kind of fun no okay and then because the uk subhumans is citizen fish they're the same band right it's said citizen fish is subhumans with a horn section right they're the ska version yeah it the ska version of subhumans another thing i love about bands uh or bands like that we have a couple of them in canada as well is bands that are the same band but they're two bands
00:50:42
Speaker
No means no. Like the Hanson Brothers? Like no means no. Yeah, the Hanson Brothers. Yeah, that's the best. I love it. Which? Because they would go like they would tour one way across Canada as one band and then tour the other way as the other. Smartest genius. Smartest way to do it if you live in Canada. they They live in Vancouver. They would tour like Vancouver to Halifax as one or the other.
00:51:03
Speaker
And then when they turned around, they would switch instruments and put on their hockey gear or whatever it was, if they were being the handsome bros. And then they would come back across the country in a second tour as the other band. Genius. um Genius. And I'm pretty sure I saw i'm pretty sure i saw them.
00:51:22
Speaker
I'm pretty sure as I saw both shows of that tour a couple of times, like at the pawn shop here in Edmonton. Here's another Canada thing. Sorry, because we're talking about the Hanson brothers, because that's a reference to a movie. yeahp And it's a reference to an American movie that I don't think Americans really care about. Slapshot? Slapshot, right, because that's a fucking Paul Newman movie, yeah right? I think Slapshot's pretty popular.
00:51:46
Speaker
I know it's very popular in Canada, but I don't know if it has the same, because it's it's not about pool, ah like the other Paul Newman movies are. so Or salad dressing or whatever they're about. Right, all those movies about salad dressing and stuff. told All of them. Anyway, sorry, I just like i just thought about that. as like Is that another Canadian thing? like We all just love this like kind of B-movie from the States that's about hockey. I mean, it's Canada, so yes.
00:52:13
Speaker
So maybe. You know, I have a few more Billy Talent songs, so we we could keep going with this. But I have of a second. There's a second one from Billy Talent, too. Is that number two? Yeah, number two.
00:52:42
Speaker
Man, you picked the most radio-y ones, hey? What is that? You picked the most radio-y ones. Yeah, on purpose. Yeah, I didn't do any deep cuts. I didn't go back and listen to the six Billy Talent records to find the deep cuts. But I like this song. Yeah, and they're doing so much in this song that is similar to what they were doing on Latouche.
00:53:11
Speaker
Yeah, made a little bit, like, stripped down a little bit to make it radio friendly, but still kind of weird, right? Yeah. Yeah, more concise.
00:53:23
Speaker
yeah More to the point rather than just being weird for the sake of being weird. Yeah, and if you even look at the track lengths on this record, if they're all in the three-minute realm, whereas, like, in Waatoosh, everything was four
Evolution of Billy Talent's Music Style
00:53:37
Speaker
-plus minutes. Okay.
00:53:40
Speaker
Definitely more punk rock. Yeah, this, ah yeah. And like punchier, like, and then this record, Billy Talent 2 was like their political one. Like all the songs had like weird ah like jabs at, cause it was 2000 and what did I say, six? Yeah, I think so. And so it was a lot of like, a lot of like Bush era stuff happening at this time or whatever the fuck we were dealing with in Canada at the time. I can't even pinpoint it. Herber probably wasn't it?
00:54:09
Speaker
It might have been by then definitely been Harper, right? Yeah, which also would have been something to fucking complain about. So, yeah, makes sense. This is also the the devil in a midnight mass was on this record. I like that song, too. It's actually really that's a that's a crazy one to punch those two songs back to back. um All right. Let's go to Billy Talent three. So that's bonus three on on your list there, Joey.
00:54:36
Speaker
This might be the one I've heard the most. there's nothing left aside from maybe River Below, but this one's like, has the slow. This is like the radio rock Billy talent song. I feel like the the most crossover appeal, you know,
00:54:54
Speaker
really hook lead. more than it was like instrumentation red. I always. Yeah this I remember this record being gigantic. My issue with this song. Triple platinum again sorry. Personally has always been that that bass line that just ended like that little part is like yeah a minor version of uh a green day song basically like uh is it warning?
00:55:20
Speaker
do do see dooooodle Yeah, and and I can't get that out of my head, so i like I know that they weren't really ripping on them, it's just a scale. Anyone can play a scale, but and that always kind of rubbed me wrong about it. Especially when they're both like pop punk bands, and then at at this time they would have been writing similar styles of music. Totally. Like this would have been post-American 88 Green Day, right? Yeah.
00:55:56
Speaker
Yeah, this this riff. doooo do do you do do like It's a little different, but it's like pretty much the same. ah And this is that this is the album that I got cool on for Billy Talent. like This is where I was like, all right, I think I'm over these guys. well Is the rest of the album kind of more that vein?
00:56:17
Speaker
I think so. I think it just didn't feel as like urgent or maybe the whole shtick of them just kind of like wore off a little bit. And like maybe what I was aiming for was just for them to just write weird songs. It's not as political maybe in nature. And I think at that time I kind of needed a little bit more of a message in my lyrics than just love not songs about, you know, lost loves or whatever. But fair I don't know.
00:56:41
Speaker
Um, all right. Well, I have the, so they had, after this, they changed their style, the way they named him. They actually went to naming their records. So the next record was called dead silence. And this is one of the singles on there. The song is called Viking death March.
00:57:09
Speaker
This is alright. I heard the same lineup, basically, their whole career. And even through Pez? Yeah, exact same. Wow.
00:57:27
Speaker
This has almost got like a... it's mistake Like a sea shanty. Yeah, or like a power metal kind of vibe to it. I actually yell a little bit.
00:57:39
Speaker
or like an iron maiden it' kind of it's got the iron maiden beat thing going on
00:58:06
Speaker
I do like the when the guitarist sings, like when they do like back and forth stuff between the two singers. Yes. And I find that they don't usually pull that out on the on the on the singles. But when you listen to the records, they do it a lot more with like both of them are singing. Oh, yeah. Or at least like when you can hear the ah sort of the harmonies together. But yeah, I was about to say I was like, actually, you know what, we what is missing from this playlist of songs we've been playing today is more Ian singing. yeah it's He's a really fucking fun singer, too. Yeah. And they have like a similar
00:58:39
Speaker
um Quality about their voice but one guy is like way over the top and the other guys kind of like more pulled back and the kind of the straight man You know when they're when they're sharing vocal duties there's one that's like the straight man and one's kind of the wild man Which is like a cool? dichotomy for a band like this I guess ah The next album of theirs is 2016's afraid of heights and a single I pulled from there is the the title track, Fright of Heights.
00:59:22
Speaker
what for five albums in and a different band name. And it you can tell this song is by the band that we started with. You know what I mean? Yeah, there's an evolution to the sound. Totally. Yeah.
00:59:46
Speaker
Yeah, these later albums kind of give me like feel like they were like... Definitely with anti-flight, they were good friends with. And stuff like that, yeah.
01:00:05
Speaker
But it definitely is moving into that like... amphenic radio punk kind of sound, I guess, that like... i Well, Green Day would have been kind of like American Idiot would have been like the kickoff of that whole thing, right? Yeah, that's for sure. And I actually think that they follow a very similar ah like trajectory of like authority zero. Okay. I think there was like Like they both started in a, like of they have this very definitive sort of underground punk sound became like head up major label and then just slowly became a little bit more like rock friendly, like a little bit more like pop rock, anthemic kind of a thing. where exim But almost like you couldn't, you can tell the evolution. It just sort of happened naturally. right
01:00:56
Speaker
yeah ah Final song I have queued up is from 2022's Crisis of Faith. This is on Spine Farm, which is a fucking metal label, but um anyway, that's just bizarre. Also oddly not the first band from Spine Farm we've had on the pod.
01:01:14
Speaker
No, and I think i every time I say that, I'm like, this band's on motherfucking Spine Farm. like I'm always like surprised that they're there because I'm like, wow, this isn't Nightwish.
01:01:27
Speaker
like but Maybe they toured together. I don't know. That'd be a weird bill. I would watch it. ah I would almost guarantee they've played a big European festival with Nightwish. and actually you know what 100% like a 100% they've been on a big festival in europe with nightwish for sure okay here we go uh so yeah this is reckless paradise this name is song all getting fuzzy
01:02:12
Speaker
I am impressed that they were able to keep sounding
Conclusion and Future Content
01:02:16
Speaker
like them. Like all those riffs are like... Yeah. Those are Billy Talent riffs. Those are as riffs, you know?
01:02:41
Speaker
This is a little um more melodic, but again, you know what? Actually saying like, hey, they're on spine farm. You kind of noted before they had a Euro metal kind of vibe to their vocal delivery. Like I'm hearing that more now, like even on that song, that had a real Euro metal kind of like feel to it. Yeah, totally. Like not maybe in the riffs in the delivery, but definitely the vocal melodies for sure. Yeah, yeah. So, so do you think it was, do you think Pez was like,
01:03:11
Speaker
version 1.0 and Billy Talent is version 2.0? Or do you think it's just, it's just been one band and they just changed their name. You know what I mean? Like, like I feel like having listened all the way on paper, like, like Pez is absolutely just a earlier evolution of Billy Talent. Like I would say they've they've been the same band the whole time.
01:03:39
Speaker
I would 100 percent agree. and like The reality is I bet you they still would have been called Pez if they didn't sign a major label or if another band didn't exist. right They would still be called Pez. yeah yeah right They just so happened that that's what happened. and you know They got the major label and any any band in that position maybe was like, ah here's how we're going to sound next. and What they chose to do is sound like Billy Talent yeah as opposed to still sounding like Pez. Totally. So 100 percent. Yeah. yeah what's ah What's your final thoughts on the PES Billy Talent, ah ah what do you want to call it, journey that we went on? This is a very cool listen. I enjoyed that first, like I i enjoyed the PES stuff because it's very weird. um Yeah. And I think I've grown a bit of a new appreciation for Billy Talent. Like I said, I'm not, they're not my favorite. I would rather listen to them than some of the bands on Canadian rock radio, but
01:04:36
Speaker
You know, if they if I was going to see another band and they were opening, I'd probably still check them out and rock out. You know what I mean? like it's the other ah They moved out of my, I think this episode has moved them out of my like bands that I am just amber ambivalent to about, two bands that I'm like, they're doing okay. They're not my thing, but like,
01:05:02
Speaker
good on them. Big thumbs up. I feel like they're doing good stuff out there. I've never heard anything like negative about the band. like They've been touring Canada for 30 years, apparently, it seems like.
01:05:17
Speaker
and i like they're I've never heard anything problematic about them. I've always only ever heard that they're like super nice guys. Uh, yeah, they seem to be like, I'm, I'm glad that they have the success that they have. Yeah. Well-earned, well-deserved. Yeah. It seems like they, uh, yeah, worked hard six years to release first full length, like, and as the same band, same four guys just like ah hustled for six years and got their break. Right. That's cool. That's right. I love that shit. Yeah. Hell yeah. Yeah.
01:05:53
Speaker
So, uh, the one thing I'll say then to wrap up this episode is that Pez Watoush record just got reissued 2024 and it's available on Spotify. So what listeners, if you want to go and check it out, label real you listen ah theyre the major Atlantic. Oh, okay. Cool. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. This year. I wonder if Billy town's playing any Pez songs like in their like throw in one or two in in a set. You know what I mean? Like with it with the reissue of the album, like that'd be kind of a fun thing for them to do. Toss one or two of those songs in there. Yeah, that's that's actually cool to think about. Yeah, maybe they've, ah yeah, they've upped their their ska game a little bit to toss Eminem in there. Yeah. yeah Get, to what's this guy? The guy that does the voice for Fry and J.K. Simmons. Get them in there. Those M&Ms.
01:06:47
Speaker
I gotcha. All right. Billy West. Billy West. That's his name. no That's his name. Billy West. Um, thanks for listening to Checker Pass. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at CheckerPassPods. Send us an email at checkerpasspod at gmail dot.com. Support the podcast. Sign up for the Checkerhead Patreon to get the episodes uncut. Both audio or video format. Or you can buy some merch. Checkerpass.ca. Trump bonuses are engineered and edited by Joey. That's a me.
01:07:12
Speaker
and our trombone and steam was provided by Keelan. Next week we have GBD, and until next time, I'm Rob. I'm Joey. And in the immortal words of Pez, no, I never drank blood before, but I look like I might with my face painted white.