 |
The Skulls | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada |
| Genres | Hardcore punk, punk |
| Years active | 1977–1982 |
| Associated acts | D.O.A. The Subhumans Stone Crazy |
| Members | Brian Roy Goble Joey Keithley Ken Montgomery Simon Werner Brad Kent |
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.
The band started in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver, during the summer of 1977, when the members of rock band Stone Crazy, who played Led Zeppelin covers among others, became interested in punk rock after seeing The Ramones live.
Joey Keithley, a.k.a. Joey Shithead, was the singer, Brian Roy Goble, a.k.a. Wimpy Roy, the bass player, Simon Werner the guitar player and Ken Montgomery, a.k.a. Dimwit, the drummer. All of them were former members of Stone Crazy except Werner, who replaced Stone Crazy guitar player Brad Kent. (Kent, however, still played with the Skulls on several occasions).
The Skulls played the (mostly hostile) club circuit in Vancouver and recorded a few songs at Psi-chords Studios, including "Fucked Up Baby", which would later become a D.O.A. song. (This track surfaced years later on Zulu Records' double album retrospective, Last Call. The demo tape was never released at the time, except to local critics for review). There was not really much a scene yet, however, escept for The Furies (which had Simon Werner's brother Jonathan on bass) and The Dishrags, so The Skulls (without Brad Kent, but with roadie Gerry Useless, who had been in Stone Crazy) decided to move to Toronto. However, the band split up: Joey and Dimwit returned to Vancouver, while Simon Werner and Wimpy moved to London (Wimpy returned to Vancouver a few months later). Joe formed D.O.A., while Dimwit, Wimpy and Gerry Useless formed The Subhumans.
After the Subhumans broke up in 1982, Wimpy joined DOA, which now featured Dimwit on drums, who had just been in the Pointed Sticks. For the next several years DOA's lineup was a virtual copy of the Skulls lineup, but with Dave Gregg instead of Simon Werner.
Werner was joined in London by Jim Walker, who landed a job with Public Image Ltd., appearing on their debut album before quitting. Werner, with his brother Joanathan, formed The Pack, which featured Kirk Brandon, who later joined Theatre Of Hate. Jim Walker also joined the Pack, and, upon that band's dissolution, all three met up again in the Straps, with was essentially the same band with another singer. A retrospective CD has now been released.
Chuck Biscuits is a Canadian drummer best known for his work in rock acts such as Danzig, Black Flag, D.O.A., and Circle Jerks. Most recently, he was a member of the punk rock band Social Distortion in the late 1990s. Biscuits has named his main influences as John Bonham, Rat Scabies of the Damned, Topper Headon of the Clash, Keith Moon and Stewart Copeland.
Gerald Richard Hannah was the bass player for the Canadian punk rock group The Subhumans and was also a member of the armed revolutionary group Direct Action, also known as the Squamish Five and the Vancouver Five.
Joseph Edward "Joey Shithead" Keithley is a Canadian punk musician who is best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist of the punk band DOA. He was elected a city councillor in Burnaby, BC in the 2018 municipal elections as a member of the Burnaby Green Party.
D.O.A. is a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Angry Samoans, The Bags, 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.
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.
The Subhumans are a Canadian punk rock band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1978.
Thank You Very Little is a compilation by Screeching Weasel. It contains b-sides, rarities, and a live show. The title was taken from a line in the movie Caddyshack. Most of the second disc is taken from a show in Philadelphia from the band's 1993 tour.
Hardcore '81 is an album by the Canadian hardcore punk band D.O.A.. It is considered by some to be the first time that a certain style of punk rock was labeled hardcore.
Brian Roy Goble,, also known as Wimpy Roy or Brian "Sunny Boy Roy" Goble, was a Canadian singer and musician. He played bass and sang for several Vancouver punk bands. After starting with Stone Crazy, Brian then began playing punk rock, playing bass with The Skulls, before becoming lead singer for The Subhumans when The Skulls split. After the demise of Subhumans, Brian joined D.O.A. in the early 1980s as bass player and second singer. After playing and singing on a number of D.O.A. albums, he quit in 1996 after the Black Spot tour. He would later reunite with The Subhumans in 2006.
13 Flavours Of Doom is an album by Canadian hardcore punk band D.O.A. It was released in 1992 on band member Joe Keithley's own record label, Sudden Death Records, and also in the UK on Alternative Tentacles. In spite of its title, the album actually had fourteen tracks – the last one not being numbered on the CD inlay.
"I'm So Bored with the U.S.A." is a song by British punk rock band the Clash, featured on their critically acclaimed 1977 debut album, which was released in the United States in July 1979 as their second album after Give 'Em Enough Rope. It was the album's third track in the original version and second in the US version.
Randall Desmond Archibald, better known by stage name Randy Rampage, was a Canadian musician and founding member, bass player and vocalist of the Canadian hardcore band D.O.A., along with Joe Keithley and Chuck Biscuits. 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.
War on 45 is an eight-song 12" EP released by the hardcore band D.O.A. in 1982. It was re-released in 2005 on CD with an additional eleven songs, but without the composition "Let's Fuck," for a total of eighteen tracks. The original cover has "MARCH INTO THE 80'S" written on it, while the 2005 version reads "MARCH TO THE END."
Something Better Change is the debut album by Canadian punk rock band D.O.A.. The album was recorded between 1977 and 1980 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and was released in 1980 on the label Can. Friends..
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.
Atomship is a four-piece American alternative metal band currently composed of Joey Culver, Chad Kent, Roy Williams, and Jared Slade best known for their 2004 single "Pencil Fight". Nathan Slade was the band's original guitarist and songwriter until his tragic death in December 2009. The band was known as Watership Down in 2002, before changing their name due to copyright to Atomship that year. Due to original vocalist Derek Pardoe's anxiety, Joey Culver took over his place as lead singer, and for the recording of their debut album The Crash of '47, released in 2004. Atomship was later dropped from Wind-Up Records due to the betrayal of Joey Culver as he teamed up with the producer to go solo. This led to the band's disbandment later that year. The original band members briefly reunited in 2017 with Jared Slade and performed several local shows In 2006, Atomship reformed as AtomshipDown. In 2010, AtomshipDown reverted their name back to Watership Down. In 2017, the band reformed Atomship with vocalist Joey Culver.
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." One definition of the genre is "a form of exceptionally harsh punk rock."
Win The Battle is the 12th studio album by Canadian punk rock band D.O.A.. The Slogan on the back cover was later used as the title for their 2010 release. All songs are written by Joe Keithley except where noted.
Paddy Duddy is an Irish-Canadian drummer. He is best known as the drummer for Canadian punk rock band D.O.A.