first photo clockwise: Howard Chackowicz drums, Rick Trembles guitar/vox, Rob Labelle guitar/vox, Andre Asselin bass, (plus various guests on vox/guit).
Influences
Voidoids, early Contortions, Iggy & The Stooges, early David Cronenberg, Buzzcocks, early John Waters, "Switched On Bach" (Walter/Wendy Carlos), early Feelies, Captain Beefheart, Krazy Kat, early Ramones, Hans Bellmer, Lesley Gore, Jimi Hendrix, early underground comix, Johnny Thunders, early Stranglers, Ray Harryhausen, The Germs, "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (Rolling Stones), Fleischer Bros animated cartoons, Pussy Galore, "Street Hassle" (Lou Reed), The Shangri-Las, The Cramps, Basil Wolverton, The Dickies, "Black Cross" (45 Grave), Suicide, Lydia Lunch, Bubblegum Music
Montreal's longest lasting "post-punk" band THE AMERICAN DEVICES were formed in 1980 & have kept going to this day. Their first retrospective CD is now available from GRENADINE RECORDS. They are presently working on new tunes for their next CD & are available for gigs. Singer/guitarist Rob Labelle is also a published writer of fiction. Bassist Andre Asselin is also a professional jazzbo (contact him for weddings). Drummer Howard Chackowicz is a Harvey Award nominated cartoonist & radio personality on CBC's Wire Tap. Rick Trembles is also an animation filmmaker (GOOPY SPASMS
), cartoonist, & author of the weekly Montreal Mirror comic-strip/movie review column MOTION PICTURE PURGATORY since 1998. He has a book compilation out of his best strips from FAB PRESS
& a weekly radio show of the same name archived at the publisher's website. Check out Rick & the band’s website SNUBDOM.COM
for more news, comix, & free MP3s.
Here are a few recent reviews of the latest CD:
"As the first few notes start trickling in, the momentum behind the American Devices becomes unshakable" -Liz Worth, Exclaim! Magazine (Toronto)
"Onanistic/obsessive, & in their singular way, brilliant, ...irreducible" -Mark Lepage, The Gazette (Montreal)
"Intricacies & idiosyncrasies pushing the envelopes of punk ethos, proggy complexity, & twisted pop charm" -Rupert Bottenberg, The Montreal Mirror
"An essential possession for any serious lover of Montreal music" -Martin Siberok, Hour (Montreal)
"Really weird music... sounds like The Velvet Underground meets The Fast" -John Holmstrom's Punk Magazine (New York City)
"Wiggley surf guitar on amphetamines, perverse lyrics, obscure mythology, & refusal to die" -Terrence Dick, Broken Pencil Magazine (Toronto)
"The real deal… hits you with its euphoric minimalism & penchant for the unpredictable, songs spinning & twittering into manic claustrophobia, jangly angles, fraught bass-lines & hyperactive freak-outs" -Liz Worth, Eye Weekly (Toronto)
Here are a few other review excerpts from over the years:
MASSACHUSETTS' FORCED EXPOSURE MAGAZINE REVIEW BY JIMMY JOHNSON: American Devices are a post-everything (even if they precede some of these "things") guitar based outfit. They're off center enough to be of interest & they obviously don't steal their influences from any one source. Hard-assed guitar burn (more drilling than riffing), a weird control of melodicism (for some reason I keep internally comparing 'em to Bailter Space, which may not be accurate but there is something to it) and a healthy, downtrodden lyrical touch...
CALIFORNIA'S FLIPSIDE MAGAZINE REVIEW BY KRK: Another splendid reason why sexually deprived art students on acid should not be exterminated, as opposed to popular belief. When not producing comix 'n' fanzines or short horror films, these multitalented nuts can be heard pounding and assaulting their instruments into a push 'n' shove, guitar-detailed dreamland. Combining countryish, 60's, folk, with modern-day distortion-fest noise at unbelievable speeds and accuracy, they make most of those SST "new generation" bands look like high school talent show rejects...
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE'S THE BOB MAGAZINE REVIEW BY FRED MILLS: Truly bizarre stuff, ranging from several psychobilly numbers (including "Coalshaft," live at a psychiatric hospital) to fairly complex prog-funk-rock-guitar workouts. "What is the Meaning of Life (The Abortion That Lived)" takes off from a nominal series of twisted surf riffs and heads off into Bob Fripp-meets-D. Boon territory. A guitar nut's dream with only a few overly indulgent moments; spazz-out sections populate each track, coming outta dimensional folds and trapdoors to buzz around the head like android flies. The lyrics similarly spit invective at perceptual placidity, asking the listener to explore the inner axis and ponder "the effects" of interpersonal-chemical chaos. Far from being a bunch of hyper manic-depressives, these Canadians chart new avenues in polyrhythmic exploration and guitar/bass (frequently six-string) interplay. That is I dig it mightily...
GREEN BAY WISCONSIN'S SICK TEEN MAGAZINE REVIEW BY REVEREND NORBERT E. UGLY: Ye gods, a bunch of twisted Art Canucks three-quarters out of their minds on Ibuprofen and Doran's Lager oozing out a spate of dagger-to-the-gonads, rockin-the-monad spew complete w/Upwardly Noodley bass, wobbly guitar and nervous beats... I betcha seein' 'em live would be no small treat...
CLEVELAND, OHIO'S ALTERNATIVE PRESS MAGAZINE REVIEW BY MARK RHODES: A remarkable Canadian quartet. They've never fallen into a mode that you could hang a date on or see as moving wholly along one path. Songs are uniformly busy with guitar riffs that veer into surprising directions ("Trigger Off" suggests what the Grateful Dead might sound like if they played hardcore before jumping into a thrash/wah realm of smile-pop), but they're sculpted into the mix in more of an art/pop than hard rock way. The ethos is perturbed liberal. Rick Trembles (guitar, vocals, bass) is a visual artist whose works appeared in Robert Crumbs Weirdo Comix. I imagine they're all very close, dear people, repeatedly stunned by the reticence of their neighbours...
Reviews of Rick Trembles' book:
"Genius... a joy to read" -The Guardian
"Each one of these strips is a marvel to behold" -Peter Bagge
"This is the way all film reviewers should work" -Cinema Sewer
Manymental Mistakes joue à l'ESCO samedi soir pour le lancement du ep Chinese Democracy de Les Temps Liquides accompagné de Half Baked, beaucoup de fun en perspective!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dudes: I saw a copy of "Decensortized" -- one of about two dozen discs in the Post-Punk/New-Wave section -- at Friends of Sound Records in Austin, Texas. $4.99 USD. A steal for some lucky shopper! -W
Just got the Grenadine cd*: big chapeau! Also for the mind-expanding genealogy (which of course had me thinking of all the places it could expand to...) Hope to see yiz at l'Esco!
Cheers, trigger on!
Patrick
(*Well, my son brought it home from Dawson radio, but I don't feel that guilty 'cause I coined up for the boxed set...)
jericho spontaneaously put your weekly thing in the mirror on her door frame. "y font la "chose" mais au moins on voit pas leurs parties intimes" quote 8 year old fan (I am supposing)
Rick. Neglected to tell you how much I enjoy the radio show you and Micheal are doing. Really entertaining stuff. And good luck at S-ine. I did a strange gig there once with a uke-player doing a Charlie Parker tune and a Mongolian throat-singer. It was a Hal Wilner gig. Legs McNeil was on the door.
