Matt Fiorito and Blind Marc interviews on POWERCLOWN, the DAYGLO ABORTIONS, and ISOLATED EARTHLINGS, all playing in the next couple of weeks (but in separate gigs!)

Sketchy Klown, AKA Sketchy Clown, AKA Matt Fiorito, by Bob Hanham

Last year, apropos of my enthusiasm for all-things Dayglo, I interviewed Dayglos' bassist Matt Fiorito, dealing with not only the bands he has played in but his growing up in Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit). It's a fascinating read, if you missed it; there are fuckin' narwhals, man: read it for the narwhals. But Dayglo Abortions are not the only band Matt will be playing in this week: under his alias of Sketchy, he'll be playing guitar in the clown-themed Iron Maiden tribute band Powerclown, who have a gig this Thursday, and who also apparently have cool new Lon Chaney Sr.-themed merch! 

In fact, that Phantom shirt is kinda curious, because the Dayglo Abortions (playing the next day) ALSO have cool new Lon Chaney Sr.-themed merch, too; I think someone in one of these bands must be on a Lon Chaney bender (assuming you've already seen The Phantom of the Opera, those curious and possessed of a library card are advised to sign into Kanopy and watch The Penalty forthwith, a dark tale in which Chaney plays a criminal mastermind seeking revenge on the world for the amputation of his legs; he was advised by his doctors not to bind his legs as he does, and some of his stunts -- leaping from surfaces to land on his knees -- will make you wince. Tod Browning's The Unknown on Tubi is also pretty amazing, too, in which Chaney plays a man with no arms, who throws knives with his feet; except he's really a man who not only has arms, but extra thumbs! There's a whole freak-vs.-strongman motif that resonates off Tod Browning's essential film Freaks, which was originally supposed to star Chaney, who died before it could be made... that one you can pay to watch, if you want... one of us, one of us...). 

(Bob already has this one but if it comes in 3XL...)

I wonder if Danny of (Vancouver 80's punk band) the Spores wants one of these shirts? He has a bit of a deep investment in Chaney, himself... imagine one of those t-shirts AND this tattoo? 

Anyhow, I digress... gig this Thursday or not, fans of Powerclown should take note: Dan Scumm, AKA Dicksee Diànno, is not out of detention yet and will not be performing. "We’ve played a few shows without Dan," Matt explains. "Our bro Denton has been keeping Dan’s whoopee cushion warm." 

Powerclown by Bob Hanham; Sketchy far left, Dan Scumm on the far right

But nor does this mean that Dan is still in a Japanese prison, Matt continues. "It was supposed to be on the hush but the cat's already been let out of the bag: Dan has been transferred back to Canada to serve whatever they make him serve to finish it all up. Def plan on resuming with him whenever he’s able to."

So since Dan's not back, is there an occasion for this gig? Warming up for Dan's eventual return? "No occasion. Mayo of Invisible Orange is trying to get shows there [at the Hollywood, re-christened the Heavy Wood] on the reg, so this is like a trial run." 

Matt Fiorito of the Dayglo Abortions, by Bob Hanham, Feb. 15/24 at the Lucky Bar in Victoria

People who saw the Dayglo Abortions last year at the Waldorf know how formidable and tireless Fiorito is as a musician, playing in both Motorama and the Dayglo Abortions that night. Murray Acton had received his cancer diagnosis at that point, and some of us, to show support, bought "Fuck Murray's Cancer in the Ass" buttons off the merch table (a charming double meaning there, not that cancer has an ass in which to fuck it; it's one of the more disturbing anal images the Dayglos have had me contemplating, but not the only one in their realm; see also; I wonder if Murray is going to attempt to therapeutically dig deep into the anal aspect of the band's catalogue on Friday, or completely banish it from sight for a few years, deciding that this shit, so to speak, ain't funny...?). 

Murray with the Dayglo Abortions by Bob Hanham, Feb. 15/24 at the Lucky Bar in Victoria

People who follow Murray on Facebook (or who have been through cancer treatment) know a bit about how difficult a ride Murray has been on. My father died of the same cancer Murray had, and went through some of the same surgeries, and of course I've had my own cancer surgeries to my tongue. But Murray is apparently fully recovered and in fine form, "playing better than ever," Fiorito reports. And planning a tour, he continues; the Dayglo Abortions have "a short stint up north in the Caribou region first week of April and following that a coast-to-coast (still unannounced) run and Canada Day in Edmonton. Working on a full USA tour for after that, in later summer."

This is, of course, great fucking news. I'll actually be arriving late at the Waldorf, as I've made commitments to catch The Tranzmitors and the SLIP~ons at Green Auto on the 8th -- more to come on that -- since it turns out that Brock Pytel of the SLIPs and I share a birthday week (mine is actually the night of the Powerclown gig; turning 56!), but I am hoping to be there near the end of the night, because I have yet to deliver copies of the German magazine that I did a feature on Murray for -- I got copies for Murray and Matt and Blind Marc too (I have no idea if there's technology that would allow him to read print, but it doesn't matter, because the thing is in German, anyhow...). 

Speaking of (Dayglo drummer) Blind Marc, note that his own band, Isolated Earthlings, will be performing at Bully's in New West on March 15th. You can check their music out on their bandcamp here; Marc has a pretty delightful sense of humour and a bit of a pop culture addiction. He also has kind of beautiful, world-weary eyes, as seen in this recent pic by Bob Hanham:

Above and below: Blind Marc at an Isolated Earthlings gig, by Bob Hanham, shot on Feb.23/24 at the Quadra Punk House, Victoria

I also interviewed Blind Marc last year, and had heard from him that the March 15th gig would contain both Isolated Earthlings songs and Mutated Earthlings songs. So I fired him a few more questions, too.

I began by asking who actually was in the band at the time. "I’m playing guitar and singing," Marc explained. "I got my buddy Big Rick on the drums and my buddy Matt Nourish on the bass. It’s too hard to play the drums and sing, plus I wrote all the songs so I know how to play them so playing the guitar plunking away on the power chords is the easiest way to get things done."

We're going to slip into a Q&A style format for the next few answers. 

Allan: Looks like Car 87 is headlining. Haven't seen them in a looong time. Any history with them, or the other bands on the bill?

Marc: As far as I know Car 87 is headlining. We’re playing right before them. I’m not sure who is in the band right now besides Bryce the singer, I knew him back in the day when he sang for Thought Crime. Also the hippieCritz from Kelowna are playing that show with us too and then they’re coming over and playing with us the next night in Victoria at the Quadra Punk House. Isolated Earthlings are opening the show and the Dayglos are headlining so I got double duty that night.

Allan: Curious about something: you ever do cover songs? I've written about some of your originals but I'm always interested in who people cover. 

Marc: I actually recorded a cover of an old Billy Joe Shaver song last summer it’s up on my YouTube channel, Isolated Earthlings; it’s called "Black Rose." He was one of the old Outlaw country guys from back in the day. I grew up in Alberta -- my grandpa was the chuckwagon champion in the Calgary stampede all through the 30s -- so I grew up listening to country music like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, all that kind of stuff. I also just recorded a cover of "Rain Street" from the Pogues, it’s my tribute to Shane MacGowan. I Weird Al'd it a little bit though and changed it to "Main Street" and changed some of the words around, so it's all about the downtown Eastside.

Allan: I have never seen "Weird Al" used as a verb before. I like it. Hey, a question: you ever hear about Mat Fraser? He's best known for American Horror Story Freak Show and Loudermilk, but he's a drummer and a punk who has really unusual arms, from his Mom using Thalidomide during pregnancy. Here he is doing "Bones of a Dog," with Steve Ignorant of Crass; or there's "Radioactive Japanese Jellyfish" by his band the Spazms. I bumped into him watching a documentary called Code of the Freaks: The Story of Hollywood's Exploitation of Disability, and now I'm kind of hooked. He seems like he'd dig what you do.

Marc: No I’ve never heard of that guy but that’s pretty awesome for sure. I got nothing bad to say about my fellow mutant Brothers in Arms, specially when we use our powers of playing music to make people happy and make people realize that life’s not that bad, you just gotta play the cards you’re dealt.

Allan: Any history we can talk about with Powerclown?

Marc: Oh yeah I’ve known all the power clown guys for 25 years, probably first played with them back at Naughty Camp in like 2000 up by Whistler, big punk fest that our buddy Creepy Simon put on. It was like a three day fest with the whole shit load of bands; my old band Betty Ford played one day. Sketchy the Clown plays bass in the Dayglos too.

Allah: Yeah, he says Murray is doing great now! Must feel good to be playing with them again.

Marc: Yeah I’m stoked that Murray’s back for sure the last few shows been playing have been really good. We’re going up north beginning of April to Prince George and all that and across Canada in May.

(End Marc interview!)

(also by Bob Hanham,  Feb.23/24 at the Quadra Punk House, Victoria)

Thanks to Marc and Matt for indulging my interview questions. As for Murray Acton, Dayglo fans may want to know that Murray also has an active side project, Hearts of Stone, some of which he is previewing in demo form on his Youtube channel. I was actually trying to get him on the bill with the John Otway show I helped with last November, but he had to pull out to get some of his surgery reversed (this seems to be a theme of late; apparently being a punk of a certain age means gigs get cancelled for surgery, since those of us who saw the Dayglo Abortions open for FEAR last year were only doing so because Joe Keithley of DOA was having a hernia operated on. Meantime, I'm helping with another gig at the moment where the lineup is changing because one of the opening acts' members also has to go for surgery; it's starting to seem like a running theme). 

Murray with the Dayglo Abortions by Bob Hanham, Feb. 15/24 at the Lucky Bar in Victoria

Some of Hearts of Stone's material is quite, uh, somber and terrifying, like this song, "To the Needle I Am Wed," about opioid addiction. Murray's comment at the time was that his Hearts of Stone material "might be a shock for some people. Very far from what is probably expected of me. It's pretty damn dark so I'm going to throw a bit of humour in it too just to lighten things up a bit."

There was a funnier Hearts of Stone song on Youtube (albeit one about murdering your wife), but I can't find it now; but in perusing TheCretinDayglo on Youtube, I stumbled across Murray's very unexpected cover of Diamanda Galas, of a song variably called "Go Down Moses" and "Let My People Go." Galas' original, about AIDS, riffs on a Paul Robeson version of an older, traditional folk song about slavery, which in turn riffs (I think) on the Babylonian captivity of the Jews; but Murray covering it makes it seem like it's again about the opioid crisis! Galas' lyrics: "The devil has designed my death/ And is waiting to be sure/ plenty of his black sheep die/ Before he finds a cure." I mean, opioids are where I go with it, anyhow, with the authorities not trying very hard to solve the problem because they don't really mind if addicts die... it's interesting how the same song can mean something completely different depending on context...

Murray and Matt of the Dayglo Abortions by Bob Hanham, Feb. 15/24 at the Lucky Bar in Victoria

Anyhow, here's waiting for a Hearts of Stone gig. Meantime, if you haven't seen the Dayglo Abortions lately, you might just want to make your way to the Waldorf on Friday, Hate Speech -- their 2022 LP, I believe it is -- is just a terrific album, my favourite new punk album since about 2015, easily my favourite Dayglo Abortions album since the days of "Hide the Hamster," boasting some of the wittiest, sharpest songwriting Murray has ever done and some delightful, mind-bending solos (note that the solo on "White People" is referencing "Free Bird" -- a bit more on which here, in an English-language excerpt from that German interview). Check the who album out here! 

A couple of gig posters and some event info links follow, but this is, in fact, the end of this article. Thanks Matt, Marc, and Murray... I might actually try to make all three of these shows, or at least catch a portion thereof...

Powerclown gig info here; Dayglos gig info here; Bully's Studios you're going to have to figure out yourselves, because the Car 87/ Isolated Earthlings gig is not mentioned on their events page, which hasn't been updated in awhile; but this is their events page, if you like (maybe they'll add it?). They're kinda between Columbia Station and Edmonds Station, Skytrain-wise -- a fun little room. I think the 106 bus goes right by, but Google Maps it or something. Seeya!