The Squamish Five were a group of self-styled "urban guerrillas" active in Canada during the early 1980s. Their chosen name was Direct Action. The five were Ann Hansen, Brent Taylor, Juliet Caroline Belmas, Doug Stewart and Gerry Hannah.
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver. They are often referred to as being among the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, Germs, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore.
Bradley Grant Kent was a Canadian musician who played guitar with many of the early Vancouver punk rock bands, particularly Victorian Pork, the band which spawned D.O.A., Pointed Sticks and the Subhumans. Later he went to San Francisco to play guitar for the Avengers with Penelope Houston.
Propagandhi is a Canadian punk rock band formed in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1986 by guitarist Chris Hannah and drummer Jord Samolesky. The band is currently located in Winnipeg, Manitoba and completed by bassist Todd Kowalski and guitarist Sulynn Hago.
Arthur Frank Bergmann is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who was one of the key figures in Canadian punk rock in the late 1970s. Bergmann was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2021.
Squamish is a community and a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located at the north end of Howe Sound on the Sea to Sky Highway. The population of the Squamish census agglomeration, which includes First Nation reserves of the Squamish Nation although they are not governed by the municipality, is 19,893.
Subhumans were a Canadian punk rock band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1978.
Jim Walker is a Canadian musician who was a founding director as well as the original drummer for the UK music group Public Image Ltd.
UJ3RK5 was a Vancouver-based band from the late 1970s. Their style was post-punk/new wave, but was more art rock than synth pop.
The Skulls were an early Vancouver punk rock band, whose members would later found two of the area's bands: D.O.A. and The Subhumans. They toured heavily and issued a demo, but never released any albums.
Vancouver Complication is a compilation album featuring many influential Vancouver punk bands. It was released in 1979 on Pinned Records, and has been reissued a number of times with several different cover designs.
Randall Desmond Archibald, better known by his stage name Randy Rampage, was a Canadian musician and founding member, bass player and vocalist of the hardcore band D.O.A. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, the Germs, Negative Trend, and Middle Class. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to the second wave of the American punk sound as hardcore. Hardcore 81 included a fourth member of the lineup Dave Gregg.
Pointed Sticks are a Canadian punk rock/new wave band from Vancouver. Originally active from 1978 to 1981, then reuniting to perform in July 2006 through to November 2012. After a three-year hiatus, Pointed Sticks returned to the stage in June 2015 for shows on Vancouver island as well as the July 11th Khatsahlano street party in Vancouver. The band is known for their fast melodic pop music and liberal use of harmony singing by all five members—also for unusual graphic images that acted as counterpoint to the music.
The first punk rock bands in Canada emerged during the late 1970s, in the wake of the US bands Ramones, The New York Dolls, and Blondie, and the UK band Sex Pistols. The Viletones, the Diodes and the Demics were among the pioneers, together with the Skulls from Vancouver, and Hamilton's Teenage Head, whose records and live shows earned them the nickname "Canada's Ramones". Vibrant local punk scenes sprung up in Toronto and Vancouver and other Canadian cities.
Canadian hardcore punk originated in the early 1980s. It was harder, faster, and heavier than the Canadian punk rock that preceded it. Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A. may have helped to popularize the term with the title of their 1981 album, Hardcore '81. Hardcore historian Steven Blush said that the term "hardcore" is also a reference to the sense of being "fed up" with the existing punk and new wave music. Blush also states that the term refers to "an extreme: the absolute most Punk."An article in Drowned in Sound argues that 1980s-era "hardcore is the true spirit of punk", because "after all the poseurs and fashionistas fucked off to the next trend of skinny pink ties with New Romantic haircuts, singing wimpy lyrics", the punk scene consisted only of people "completely dedicated to the DIY ethics". One definition of the genre is "a form of exceptionally harsh punk rock."
Blue Northern was a country rock band active between 1977 and 1982. They released four Top 40 singles in Canada; in their final year they were nominated for a Canadian Country Music Award.
For the label of the same name, formed by Pickwick International, see Quintessence Records
The Dishrags were a Canadian all-female punk rock band based in Vancouver, British Columbia in the late 1970s. Now considered the first punk group of note to emerge from the Vancouver music scene, the Dishrags were influenced by the work of the Ramones, and were forerunners in establishing the city's punk movement. After appearing on the compilation album Vancouver Complication in 1979, the band recorded two EPs and had more tracks released following disbandment.
Bloodied but Unbowed is a 2010 Canadian documentary film detailing the rise and influence of the punk music scene in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
The Squamish Five is a Canadian docudrama television film, directed by Paul Donovan and broadcast by CBC Television in 1988. The film dramatizes the story of the Squamish Five, the Canadian activist group responsible for the Litton Industries bombing of 1982.
