Since forming in 1993 July Fourth Toilet has had dozens, perhaps hundreds, of members pass thru its ranks and continue to do so. The following folks have played an important part in our recent history, participating in recordings and/or shows:
Frank Ackerman (1995-present, sporadic presence)
Marty Ballentyne (2006-present)
Nadya Bondoreff (1994, 2008)
Robert Dayton (1993-present)
Clancy Dennehy (1996-present)
Shayne Ehman (1994-present, sporadic presence)
jody franklin (1994-present)
Mark Gabriel (1994-present)
Stephen Hamm (2000-2005) Andre Lagace (1994-present)
Julian Lawrence (1993-present)
Susan Rekers (1995-present)
Josh Stevenson (1995-present, sporadic presence)
Kim Stewart (2004-present)
Influences
Creating a list of influences isn’t an easy task. The members of July Fourth Toilet all have diverse musical tastes. We do share an affinity for obscure audio anomalies, karaoke and thrift store records, which is perhaps something that sets us apart and makes our sound unique. A good example of this is the show where we covered Rock Fantasy, a throwaway K-Tel concept children’s album from the early 70s.
We’re influenced by our members’ side projects Canned Hamm, Young and Sexy, LSDJ, Rubaboo, Les Poutines and Hallmark. We’re influenced by peers and contemporaries such as Three Day Stubble, Zip Code Rapists, Sun City Girls, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Caroliner and the entire Amarillo Records catalogue. We’ve covered many artists in our theme show extravaganzas, notably the Beatles, Sparks, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Michael Nesmith, Martin Denny, Davy Jones, Nico, Roy Wood and Wizzard!, George Michael, the Fugs, Mike Oldfield, Martin Denny, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Sammy Davis Jr., Phil Ochs and many others. We seem to share a love for The Godz, Holy Modal Rounders, Cro-Magnon, The Sunshine Bus, The Crazy People, Bonzo Dog Band, Scott Walker, Robert Wyatt, Paul McCartney, Nilsson, Klaus Nomi, Richard Harris, Nancy and Lee, etc. etc. etc.
Sounds Like
Nothing you've ever heard before, money back guaranteed.
A long-running multi-piece ensemble from Vancouver who brew up a unique stew of musical styles, blending
gnomish acid folk, honky tonk stumble, glam tarnish, raw sweat ballistics boogie, synthesized organ matter, cult murder a cappella, crafted cacophony, archaic ritual invocation harnessing of the astral universe and aspartame pop balladry.
A lucid "Something For Everyone" of murk gloss arcana recorded studio matter and a wide variety of viscerally moody candy-coloured bargain basement showbiz extravaganza theme shows that walk the risky razor's edge. All infused with simultaneous childlike wonder and shambolic ritual, melody and sass, wrapped in a burnt husk warm crepe: cream spilling out the side, yearning to be free. Become one with us and find yourself if you haven't found it already.
We're really very nice.
Muzak Fer Sale!
White (Trash) Album (cassette)
2008 reissue of first classic J4T album from 1994!
$6 + $3 sh
July Fourth Toilet Plays Canada Day On John Knowles' Front Porch Live 1995! CDr
taken from our vaults, now available for the first time ever!
$6 + $2 sh
Something For Everyone CD
gnomish mushroom acid wave folk sugar pop from 2002!
$8 + $2 sh
Subscribe to the July Fourth Toilet Internet TV channel on Miro!
Cosmic Metharthasis
November 2003
She Must Be Cast
April 2000
Ballad Of The Rooftop Sniper
December 2001
Childhood Will End
by July Fourth Toilet
A four-song EP recorded in 1996 for consideration of Stomach Ache Records, Childhood Will End is now available for download in MungBeing 11, ten years later! With original (stained) cover art by Robert Dayton salvaged from our archives, and liner notes by Robert and jody franklin. Full lyric sheets included, too!
Bio
"July Fourth Toilet is sort of a modern day Zappa and the Mothers or Bonzo Dog Band. A wild ride through happy pop, Waits-ish weirdness, demented '60s era folk-rock and points in between."
- The Province
"A fresh dose of weird art-rock that is eclectic and undeniably catchy. Sounds like a comedy album camouflaged behind the sounds of an elementary school band tuning up to play some T-Rex. Pure musical schizophrenia!"
- The West Ender
"Novelty rock to the max. Their live shows often fall into the legendary category."
- Chartattack
"Vancouver branch of the musical genre spearheaded by Thinking Fellers and Caroliner. You know, straddling the line between serious musicianship and songwriting and pretending they don't care about anything except being weird and quirky in a trippy sort of way. It's a hard fence to keep your balance on, but JFT do an excellent job. The result is a fairly interesting mix of songs that tend to sound like a 1970s children's album..."
- Scram
"July Fourth Toilet did an eastern mystical-snake preacherish Krishnabilly set... (They) are hillbillies. Their music is challengingly communal (though each member seems deeply tuned or purposefully detuned in to their own specific instrument, there is a snugness and dedication to the whole, and a sense of friendship...) The lyrics are high and close, the melodies range from delicate to foot-stomping, and the ethic is for hard work, wonder and woe... July Fourth Toilet has a musical sensibility I admire more and more every time I hear modern rock and realize how much it has tortured, betrayed and corrupted the childhood musical appreciations that each of us is born with."
- Terminal City
"Something for Everyone is... pretty fun, especially if your idea of fun is the kind of soundtrack you might hear if you fell asleep watching The 5000 Fingers of Dr T and then had a nightmare about The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. And, speaking of The Beatles, it's hard not to sing along with the final track, the six minute anthem, 'One Day Is Representative of Our Time Together.'"
- Discorder
Don't want to listen to the critics? Here's what our contemporaries have said:
"Something tells me that maybe something is going to happen with the kind of giant musical ensembles that were responsible for Hair. You've got the Polyphonic Spree, the Arcade Fire, and the Hidden Cameras. They all have this big-ensemble feel. The leader of this multimembered, costumed concept movement will be Vancouver's July 4th Toilet."
- the infamous Nardwuar the Human Serviette
"It's time for that record, you know the one that comes around every not-so-often to defy description. Don't be scared off by the vast Toilet spectrum, from old-world folk ditty, to amped-up helium romp through mythical lands of never-was, to the tenderest of ballads. It's an astonishing arsenal of pop hooks and poetic aplomb, weaving through eleven testimonials to the joy of song, where Laughter and Sadness and Whimsy commingle. Witness 'One Day Is Representative of Our Time Together,' perhaps the pinnacle of all shambling folk-pop sing-alongs, where the band picks itself up from the initial mournful dirge and rises phoenix-like from its own sad ash, building, voice by voice, horn by synth-horn, into a jubilee of wailing falsettos, chants and fanfare. Follow those voices and find the thing you've been waiting for."
- Dan Bejar of Destroyer and the New Pornographers on our album Something For Everyone
i called this hot dog place today to ask if they'd be open for the 4th of July and the girl on the phone said "of course we are, it's a big hot dog day!!" and i said..."oh yeah?..i have a big hot dog"...she laughed and hung up on me, it was fun. happy fourth to you guys' toilet!!!
Thanks for being a friend of the Jesse Bernstein tribute page!
Comments on Jesse and his works are welcomed.
"The test of the integrity of a poem, or any work of art, may be, simply: does it lead, in the end, to freedom, or does it merely expand the arena of confinement? A voice from the outside, truly, is what we need to hear. Even a single word. Even something that is not a word, but suggests such a word."
yeah, and getting people to come to the show in Indiana would be rough as well, i have tried with other amazing bands, but no one around here likes amazing bands, they are all alright with their pub rock bullshit, anyways, i will have to check out the new album, peace guys
