Dayglos at Funkys detail by Rebecca Blissett, used with permision! (Not to be reused without).Who is the bald guy?
...So the Dayglo Abortions kicked off their tour yesterday on the island, but for me, the Vancouver kickoff is tonight at the Waldorf. Here is a listing of Dayglos-related things I have written, in case anyone has missed them. My entire history with the band is online.
I interviewed Chris Walter for the Straight about the Dayglo Abortions book booklaunch back in 2010. It was my first time seeing the Dayglos. I had been put off back in the 1980s by the band's, uh, "edgier" lyrics and by whispers of a metal influence on Guano (I was very metal-phobic, allergic to traces of it in my punk, back in the 1980s. When crossover happened I turned my nose up further: the headbangers in my high school had done things like THROW ROCKS AT ME for walking around with a shitty Realistic tape recorder to my ear, blaring the Exploited and Crass and the Dead Kennedys, and it took me years to get over it, because I had liked metal just FINE as a younger teen... Motorhead was the only band with a metal edge I listened to until well into the 21st century!). Anyhow, I chatted with the band and asked Murray at the merch table about the hamster on the Guano cover: was it okay? He assured me that it lived to a ripe old age in the Fringe offices.
They pop up in my interview with the director of Somewhere to Go, the Victoria punk doc.
I spoke briefly with Murray at this 2012 Funky's show, clearly, since I quote him, but mostly it's a show review, my second time seeing the band. You can see my bald pate at the front of the stage. As I recall, I submitted a piece that was too long and paid the price, and some stuff got lost, but it's now lost fer good, I guess.
Then there was a bit of a pause in my Dayglo-gig-going, in 2015, after my editors at the Straight attached a rude title to a Willy Jak piece I wrote. The gag was in-print only (the online version is my title). But noting that I talk in it about a Tesco Vee recipe - I interview Tesco here btw - involving sausage, which he describes as "horse cock," and noting that Willy had eaten everything in the cookbook, they retitled it for print, "Willy Eats Horse Cock." Which really upset Willy! He was PROUD of that cookbook. My editors figured, I guess, that it was in keeping with Dayglos own rude humour, in their defense; it is also a stone guarantee that ANYONE WHO SAW THAT BOLDED HEADLINE read the fuckin' article (my coworkers at my dayjob sure did). But I like Willy, liked that he did the cookbook, and I was bummed that he was hurt by that re-titling; it felt like they were takin' a poke at him, and maybe they were.
So it took me awhile until I finally saw the band after that, in part because I was worried there would be bad blood between myself and them, or at least some awkwardness (tho' Willy and I remain Facebook friends). I was sorely tempted by that SBC gig that was, like, the last fucking show before lockdown, and loved how the gig posters for it lingered. I don't think Hate Speech had even come out yet. But THAT WAS THE ALBUM that got me excited. I like Armageddon Survival Guide but I don't love it like I love Hate Speech. It's just wayyy up there in my estimate of favourite punk records; I haven't heard a punk record that sunk its hooks THIS deep into me since the Rebel Spell's Last Run.
And actually, much as I love Last Run, Hate Speech is wayyy more where-I'm-at; Todd was always morally SOOOO righteous, so serious, so virtuous that I felt like a bit of schlub, a moral inferior, by comparison. I DO NOT HAVE THIS PROBLEM WITH THE DAYGLO ABORTIONS.
And my Dad had the same sort of cancer Murray had. It was not a very pleasant ride. I sure hope they've caught it earlier with Murray than they did with my father.
Anyhow, since Hate Speech came out I have done the following (plus one magazine article that may not have actually seen print yet?).
Hate Speech review and interview excerpts:
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2022/06/dayglo-abortions-teaser-hate-speech.html
Show review at the Rickshaw, last June:
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2022/06/blog-post.html
Show review at the Interurban, last October:
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2022/11/from-dayglo-abortions-to-david.html
Show review (where seeing someone drop dead outside the venue and having to breathe some dipshit's vape fumes kinda tainted the night):
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2022/11/dayglo-abortions-at-biltmore-vs.html
Show review (the Dayglos outperformed FEAR!):
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2023/04/piss-and-bacon-sleaford-mods-and-fear.html
Pete Campbell (of many Victoria and Vancouver bands) tells a Dayglo Abortions story here: https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2022/06/endocrine-rosaries-and-empty.html
Murray Acton - giant interview (I still don't know if this has run in the magazine I did it for! My editor had me trim it way down. It's unruly, but so is Murray; if you find it overwhelming in places, just skip ahead - maybe you don't want to know about Murray's take on the Syrian gas attack, say, but want to read about his old grow-op? There's SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE in here):
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2022/10/dayglo-abortions-murray-action.html
Interview excerpt with thoughts on my four favourite songs on Hate Speech:
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2023/05/murray-acton-on-smart-food-eating.html
Matt Fiorito - interview:
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-matt-fiorito-interview-of-dayglos.html
Blind Marc - interview.
https://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2023/05/blind-and-proud-blind-marc-on.html
See the Dayglo Abortions on tour, if you haven't, and donate to Murray's cancer Gofundme (and read his updates) here.
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