Dispatch from Jesusland North

January 25, 2006... Barely twenty-four hours into the rule of the Bloodless Freak Party and civilization as we know it in Canada has already started to crumble. Just yesterday, I saw a man cross the street mid-block (illegally) without noticing a fast-approaching snowplow cross the centre line (illegally) in order to pass a mail truck double-parked (illegally).

Someone is going to get hurt out there. And I have a feeling it's gonna to be the guy who just made a minimum payment to one creditor with money borrowed, at a higher rate of interest, from another.

No matter how bad my finances get, I will never part with my copy of Porcelain Forehead's Right Now! The World Needs a Clear Head. Released by the Ottawa-based band in 1983, the EP is seven inches of non-stop pleasure.

Porcelain Forehead - That Number Again Folks

From the opening snippet of dialogue, borrowed from televangelist and Moral Majority leader, Jerry Falwell, this fucker delivers the punk rock goods. Sounding the tiniest bit like the Dead Kennedys, but, for the most part, like no one else, Porcelain Forehead demonstrates an understanding of sofisticated musical concepts like changing the pace or volume level every now and then. Their ambitious arrangements turn the typical verse-chorus-verse song structure on its ear, as well. Best of all, they do it all (usually) without being ponderous bores.

Porcelain Forehead - How High?

My favourite thing about this record, even more than the individually hand-screened and stamped cover, is the lyrics. They're, like, all poetic.

Thematically, "How High," a song about wage slavery, is the most stereotypically "punk" of the bunch. But even then, its lyrics are oblique. Take, for example, how the song title relates to the lyrics: in a society of wage slaves, when the boss says jump, the slaves ask "How high?" Of course, the lyrics don't say that: it's left for the reader/listener to infer.

I don't know about you, but I'll take abstruse poeticism over simplistic sloganeering any day... (Oddly enough, I'll also take fart humour over abstruse poeticism any day...)

Elsewhere on the EP, lyrics are written from the point-of-view of a sniper ("Gleaning Ground"), are free associative ("Q"), or, as in the next song, are about a Buddhist Monk setting his bad ass self on fire.

Porcelain Forehead - Human Torch

"Human Torch" is where my love affair with Porcelain Forehead began. Given the context, the line "I've figured out how they make spam," is especially tasteless and priceless. And I just can't get enough of that rumbling bass sound. Fortunately, it's all over the record.

After Porcelain Forehead split, in 1985, the vocalist, Mike Hillis, sang for a short-lived Toronto-based quartet called The Nth that also featured former Polkaholics guitarist, Dick. Sonically, The Nth was closer to Polkaholics than Porcelain Forehead. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they never recorded or released anything, which is a shame. They were a good band.

Hillis was one of the characters featured in Alan Zweig's 2000 documentary, Vinyl, about obssessive record collectors. I'm not sure what ever happened to the other members of Porcelain Forehead, Polkaholics and The Nth.

For more about Porcelain Forehead, check out the website for No Cause for Concern, which features a brief band bio as well as a band tour diary.

Permadink | |

Top

Home