The band The 80th Action may be the most underground band around. I guarantee unless your in the tiny Vancouver Island scene already, these guys are truly unknown to you. I grew up with these dudes, played in bands with everyone of them, smuggled wine out of our parents basements together, skipped school together, took up, quit and took up smoking many times together, growing up in a western hick ‘Stand By Me’-esque town setting, hopping for excitement, getting little but trying to make our own. We loved the same music, went to all the same shows, we where nothing short of brothers. So now we’re older and we’ve seemed to mature our musical tastes at the same speed. We where a group of kids raised on radio rock, thrown into the world of late 90′s Skate/Pop Punk and then forced into the genres of what we called experimental, screamo, grind, ambient, tech, blah blah blah. So this is exactly what I would expect to hear. Melodic pop sensibilities, technical execution, constant riffing…  again, blah blah blah. There is a genre coming, I’m dubbing it Evolved-Pop Punk and I believe these bros are at the forefront.

This being true my opinion of The 80th Action is defiantly bias. There is however an old Yiddish saying “shtick naches” which translates to ‘sharing in a joyful moment’ and that’s how I feel with The 80th Action. They symbolize the process of coming to terms with adulthood and as I’ve watched this band blossom from it’s infancy the members have matured in both song and lyric writing. The first demos I heard where insturmental and raw. On the surface one could easily the potential these four guys had together and in the past year it is proven on their album Mega Problems released today. The songs are dense yet playful. Flailing violently from back and forth guitar shredding, piano driven drivers, and of course the smile inducing gang vocal. I managed to ask a few questions to members Maarten and Chris quite a few months back.

Hey, please introduce yourself and describe the role you play in The 80th Action:

C: Chrid Living for the rhythm section, smooth peanut butter bass

M: i’m maarten bayliss. i play the cute one.

You’ve played in many of bands throughout the years, would you consider The 80th Action to be your masterpiece:

C: We were formed by fate, somewhat vicariously, and I can admit that the 80th Action is one of the most enjoyable groups i have ever been part of. We’ve incorporated nearly everything that I am currently excited about musically, this is exactly the type of music I want to be creating right now. Though it never hurts to have a theremin.

M: well if you do then i do.

What where you able to take from your other bands and bring to this new project:

C: Signature busy major/blues scale fusions as i love to do. Transbalc inspired enthusiasm, Los tycoons inspired insanity, Bikes Mine inspired gang vocals, Hollywood Noise’s Eric Brunning.

M: mmmmprobably being true to the way you play

What is it like trying to promote and book yourself in such a small town, which seems to cater solely to Alt-Emo and Metalcore:

C: I hardly have an idea, we just rock out and if people seem to enjoy it, that’s their problem. Its not hard to tell the difference between good music and that “alt-emo” everyone is raving about.

Who’s the hardest member of The 80th Action to deal with:

C: Eric to keep up with, Maarten with his special effects and Nolan who just picks on Maarten but is often mistaken as an englishman, but he’s not.

M: Nolan James Bayliss

Describe The 80th Action in 2 words:

C: graduation day

Whats your tone like:

C: I like to think of it as if there was a fight between kids with scissors, but they were, like, really loud, and then some really big elementary school principal who thought of himself to be more of a friend than a principal with a low, soothing voice that comes and breaks it up, whilst losing his “cool” a little.

Some of your biggest musical influences:

C: Mostly punk rock

M: other musicians, thoughts, doing shit, not doing shit, and radiohead

Tacos or Pizza:

C: Ideally, I would like a double layer pizza taco, (pizza folded onto an existing taco) but If I had to choose I’d probably go with taco pizza

Are you working on any other projects right now:

C: avro arrow stays close to me. nothing like acoustic folk punk with splashes of electric jams, splashes of splash cymbals

What IS The 80th Action:

C: trampolines, bocce ball, granny smith apple ball, maple trees, Ghost dogs, picklebrau, and midnight a cappella!

Title of your next album:

M: hopefully ‘Mega Problems’

Any last Words:

C: I would always prefer soup, regardless of weather

M: dakota fanning looks hella old now

Please take the time to check out Mega Problems here, it’s a free download and certainly worth your time.

The 80th Action – Big A

The 80th Action – Spin turn Mega turn

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The Person Who Did Stuff To Me

Weekends has a three with Lightning Bolt and Japandroids and things get saucy. Huge tracks with in your g-r-i-l-l face melters and echoed out vocals. Would have liked to hear some more bombastic drumming but hey, I’ll defiantly take what I’m given. Each of these songs are from a different Weekends release but make sure to check out their up and coming album this summer.

Weekends – Psychedelic Mice

Weekends – Raingirls (short)

Weekends – UMBC

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Opening your album with a 14 minute song that takes up the entire first side of a 12″ vinyl seems quite ballsy, but if there’s balls in Orange County, Thee Oh See’s have got ‘em. The first track Warm Slime is far beyond what I could have expected, fuzzed out almost past audio recognition building a repetitive chorus of “I believe in the summer time…” which probably takes up 3/4 of the song. Declining and building again in an almost post-rock fashion. But hold fast avid reader, by no means does this every get boring or tedious. More so it feels like your brain is bursting from the inside out. The entire album, as short as it is, is a constant blitz of insanely catchy psych-thrash. Incredibly noisy in a way that makes the geese under your skin stand up, dance and die.  Driving, like a Camero barreling down Hi-way 66. Enchanting like some fucked up voodoo you cant quite grasp. Dig these mp3′s below but do yourself a favor and pick up the clear and orange marbled vinyl, it’s super cheap and needs to heard in that format.

Thee Oh Sees – I Was Denied

Thee Oh Sees – MT Work

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Really out there classic themed loop music. Monster Rally is like a Hawaiian juke box on acid. You would be foolish not to download the whole EP entitled EP here. Via Weekly Tape Deck.

Monster Rally – Sun Hula

06 Suns Hula

Monster Rally – Maori Mai

02 Maori Mai

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Fair Ohs are a quirky and jangly english indie punk gem. Picking up more steam than Thomas Newcomen’s first engine. It’s like being at the beach and rinding the Eye of London at the same time, half cut and having the time of your life.

fair ohs – hey lizzy

02 Himalayas

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Brock used to play in a small band called The Cosmetics in early 2005, I remember fondly. Those where the days of my heavy fructose consumption. The streets ran red with fruit punch. A greasy teenager does a darkslide down a gnarly rail. At a underground venue called The Grid in tiny Courtney B.C I would assume many people where on shrooms. A standout moment may have been The Cosmetics playing a cover of Kaos’s “Crab Bucket”. Brock then played in the Victoria death metal band ,Colourbook for a few years. During this time I imagine Almonds, Cohen was formed out of a need to sometimes, play something a little more rag time. He tell’s me that his band of Baker Street boys could be playing shows in toronto in the near future. Maybe with some favourite like Slam Dunk, or maybe some sort of kissing vhs tape. All in all Almonds, Cohen is best served with a mug of steaming chamomile and some Roozbeh for good measure.

Almonds, Cohen – Backgammon

Almonds, Cohen -Diggin for Clams (loud)

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Last week I posted a song by Rollerskaters Andrew McKee. Turns out he plays in this totally rad band called The Young Friends. Also turns out you can stream their whole album “HELLA” for free here, so I added this nifty widget to our blog so you can preview a few tracks. Enjoy the hell of this springy pop goodness.

The Young Friends – Riverside Kids

The Young Friends – House Party

http://www.myspace.com/theyoungfriends

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from my old home of Phoenix Arizona comes Rollerskaters, or Andrew McKee. Groovy indie pop at it’s finest and a nice cut together video to boot!

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The Babies – Meet Me in the City

The Babies – All Things Come To Pass

http://www.myspace.com/thebabiesnyc

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