Clay Holmes on Eargoggles, Digression and the Cobalt "re-enactment" at the WISE Hall

Digression band photo; that's Clay, second from the left

I am going to state at the outset: I likely won't be at the Cobalt thing at the WISE Hall (sorry, Clay!), unless the show that I am going to ends early enough that I can catch some of Digression's set. It seems unlikely. I've simply got to go to Red Gate, as I'm totally taken with H.Ä.L.T., whom I have never seen before, and who describe themselves as a "traditional goth/post-punk band" on their Bandcamp, who, further, remind me of a Gothier variant of early Lords of the New Church, especially in their basslines.  Plus I have grown to utterly love the night's headliners the Tranzmitors in the last few years. But I gotta be clear about that at the outset, because otherwise, it would seem very weird for me to turn up at Red Gate having NOT GIVEN ANY PRESS AT ALL to that show, while in fact having given press to a different one. Like, what kinda hypocrisy would THAT be? This paragraph lets me off the hook for that accusation, though it may put me on the hook for others. Sorry! 

But people wanting a blast of Vancouver punk and metal that will give you a taste of how great "Vancouver's hardcore bar" the Cobalt was, in its initial incarnation -- or who want to see a stacked bill of bands that regularly played that venue, at an insanely low price ($10 at the door!) should hit the WISE Hall instead, especially if you've never seen the Golers (a savage thrash band with a sense of evil, confrontational, pitch-dark "humour" in their lyrics) or Mr. Plow (who writes very rude, funny acoustic originals like "Let's Get Fat Together", the studio version of which features Mr. Chi Pig. And how can you not love someone who titles an album Apocalypse Plow?). 

By the by, Dave Plow lives out of town now, so he doesn't perform here very often! 

And speaking of rude humour, the Gnar Gnars will no doubt do their songs about fucking vacuum cleaners and their cat (their cover of the Kinks "Lola" is kind of legendary, too). Have seen all three of these acts multiple times and its kinda genius to put them all together on a Cobalt-themed bill (which, I gather, Dan Scum of former Cobes regulars Powerclown will also be joining, though I am unclear what he will be doing). The whole thing is the brainchild of the WISE Hall's Clayton Holmes, who (besides headlining with his band Digression) shot tons of video of shows at the Cobalt back in the day, circa 2005-2010, which he put out both on EarGoggles anthology DVDs (complete with satirical advertisements and other pop cultural references between songs); and as standalone discs of complete shows (including a Subhumans show I missed because I was neck deep in moving from an apartment that had a bedbug problem, trying to make sure I didn't bring the fuckers with me... that was a tough night, and it hurt to miss that show, though it wasn't really the last one at the Cobalt -- Eugene Chadbourne played a Fake Jazz the next Wednesday, which I did make, and which Clay also shot. Anyhow, cool to have a whole Subhumans performance on DVD!). 

Interview commences about Friday's show! 

Clay Holmes, left, with Johnny Matter of Matterhorn records

Allan (in italics): So what was the first show you saw at the Cobalt, what was the first show you shot footage of at the Cobalt, and what are your high points, either of the venue in general or re: the bands on the bill?

Clay (not in italics!): I can’t remember the first show I saw at the Cobalt but I definitely remember walking through the door for the first time in the early 2000s and realizing that I had found my place. I asked Wendy for a job right away and she just shook her head. I managed to win her over in 2006 which led to me documenting the place with EarGoggles. Her oversight of the place is really what made it special. For certain types of weirdo fringe artists there was nowhere better to do whatever the fuck you wantedG

Will you be doing an old-school Eargoggles video document of the coming night? I still have all my EarGoggles DVDs... will you have any on the merch tables? (besides the compilations, I only have two complete shows you shot, the Rebel Spell and the Subhumans; were there others?)

EarGoggles was made before cellphones had filming capabilities and its lost most of its necessity since then so I don’t really film bands anymore. I think I did a Dayglo DVD at some point but if I did, they’re long gone. I do have a smattering of full length sets (including a full day of sets at Neptoon Records during Record Store Day) at https://www.youtube.com/@clayholmes4561/videos

I gave the last of my EarGoggles away to Johnny at Matterhorn Records when he opened because he’s a good guy.

(my own personal Eargoggles collection; how many am I missing? Also note, I have a feature film by Clay -- which he gave me 15 years ago or so. Guess I should watch it!)

Is the Digression album going to be available at the show? What format?

Digression has never made any physical media and probably never will. It would be nice but I’ve never really cared too much about holding an album in my hands before listening to it.

Who is in Digression, playing what? What's the band's history? Is this going to be a serious, ongoing project (I have your "Clay" album with the And No One Else Wanted to Play spoof on the cover, and that seemed like a one off). By the way, Digression from what?

Digression is myself on guitar, Adrian Marsden on another guitar to make up for my guitar, Ry Somerton on bass and Rodney Riot on drums. It’s been going for about eight years now through various lineups but the lineup right now is peak Digression. The first two albums are actually mostly songs from that old CLAY album. I finally found people to play with me!

 
I’m a pretty sarcastic guy and just thought Digression was a funny name for a punk band because it sounds like Aggression but just means to go off topic for a moment. It would have been even funnier with death metal lettering but Richard Katynski designed us a road sign logo and I love it so we’ve been rolling with that ever since.

Is there an overaching theme to the album? The beginning of the end of what conversation? (Why the end?).

It’s the beginning of the end of conversation in general. People don’t have the patience for meaningful dialogue anymore. It’s far trendier to plug your ears, dig in your heels, and belittle anyone who disagrees with you. I think that’s one of the main reasons why the world is so fucked up right now.
It’s mostly represented in two songs: "The Beginning" and "The End."  "The Beginning" focuses on a conspiracy theorist type who cuts himself off from society completely in favour of an AI bot that perpetually agrees with him. "The End" deals with a more somber character who decides to end a toxic relationship after years of reflection.

About other songs on the album -- who are the "Beautiful Castaways" in "filthy lingerie"?

 
"Beautiful Castaways" is about suicide and the title characters are at the bottom of the ocean.

I think my favourite song on the album is "Hollow" -- I can think of a few businesses I used to frequent that have been replaced with perpetual For Lease signs, but was it written about a specific building or situation, or just the general state of development in Vancouver?

I can’t believe that we have a housing crisis in this city when there are so many empty spaces. What a waste! The fat cats who own them should be forced to lower their asking price or convert them to DIY art spaces.  

Re: "Stop Having Kids", have you actually had a vasectomy, or...?

I have not but I also don’t have any kids. Fun fact: my wife, along with a mother and son combo, sang “no more children” on the chorus.

When was Dave Plow's last show in town? What's your favourite Mr. Plow song? (I am partial to the one about getting fat together...). Do you have favourite Golers or Gnar Gnars songs? Who is going to get the proceeds from this gig, when the door is so cheap?

Plow hasn’t played here for ten years so a lot of people are very excited to see him again. I really hope he plays "Crackhead Momma" which is my favourite Plow song. The Golers are pretty much as good as it gets when it comes to live thrash and the Gnar Gnars are hilarious. I thought it was important to have island representation because the Victoria punk scene was very important to the Cobalt.

 
The bands will get the proceeds from the door if there are any proceeds. I work at the Wise and get a good deal on the rental so I figured it would be nice to do old school punk pricing.

The Cobalt has been kinda rehabilitated as a punk venue, but you're choosing to have this show at the WISE; I realize you have long associations with that venue, but are you happy the Cobalt is up and running as a punk club again?

I would be happier if it burnt to the ground! I know this makes me an asshole because every extra music venue is a good music venue but I can never go back out of respect to Wendy and apparently this means that I have to miss all the First Attack shows. That aside, I know a few of the current Cobalters and wish them well.

Yeah, they're good people, and I think Wendy herself is accepting of them. But I respect your loyalty. Curious, is anything being done to pay respects to Mr. Chi Pig? He really should be busing the tables.

You know, I sent out a mass Facebook invite for the show and had to spend an hour amending it because so many of the people I invited are dead. I’m a pretty emotional person and, when it comes to death, I’m also a bit of a coward so I tend to avoid acknowledging it unless it’s small personal gesture (I will be wearing my Grow Up shirt). Like many people, I loved Chi and I hope he and Jon Card will be heckling us from punk rock heaven.

By the way, I realize it's not on the album, but I like the "All Generaliztions Are Bullshit" idea. But when Noelle did her All Cats Are Beautiful t-shirt, I thought for awhile that she had riffed on an idea of MINE (because I'd come up with that "joke" myself in a Facebook post, or thought I had), then realized when I talked to her that it's been around for awhile, predating even my comment. So is AGAB unique to you, as a riff on ACAB? (I've had very few problems with cops, myself, but I've never been a street punk or tried to run a punk club or such).

I coined AGAB when I realized that some punks actually took ACAB seriously. I guess I’ve always thought that punks were better at seeing through the bullshit than most, so it was disappointing to see how vulnerable some of them were to sloganeering. Kind of like discovering that a large percentage of your scene is made up of anti vaxxers or Trump supporters. I’ve actively criticized cops in videos like "50,000 Volts" and understand that a lot of them are assholes who abuse their power but it’s lazy, bordering on delusional, to say that they’re all bad people. I actually thought that some ACAB punks would say hey, maybe it is more important to reject stereotypes than it is to validate my own personal animosity. But instead, they raked me over the social media coals. I tried to explain that I had no cop connections and that cops weren’t even the point, just a potent example of a generalization. But it’s kinda difficult to defend yourself when you’re getting called a bootlicking fascist.

Sidenote, I actually did meet one of my detractors in person one day and he was surprisingly apologetic about his online behaviour. We even chatted amicably for a while so maybe there is hope after all. We never came to agree on the ACAB thing or whatever but that’s ok because how boring would it be if we all just agreed with each other? And how lame would it be if we agreed with each other just for the sake of it?

By the way, attached are some photos, and the only one that might not speak for itself is the Halloween costume where I dressed up as a cop and changed my nametag to All Clays Are Bastards. Now that I’m looking at it, the name tag is way too small so probably not useable but, hey maybe you’ll get a kick out of it.

All Clays Are Bastards

 
Any comments on Noelle as a punk organizer/ community force? (Only accepting positive ones!).

Re: Noelle, she’s as pure and positive a force as I’ve ever met in the punk scene. We recently had a good laugh about one of her posters for Trooper Fest where a band called Clay is playing. 

[Note: people who have followed the Trooper Fest saga here and on the Straight should note that Trooper passed earlier this year, after the fundraiser for his meds was organized; this year's festival, taking place next weekend, will raise money for other punk cats in need and maybe go towards establishing a fund for them? Not 100% clear, but more to come].

Ha. In fact, when I saw the Clay on the poster, I asked her if that was you! Is there anything else I should say about the gig or the bands?

Ya Dan Scum is on the bill now so come throw some sushi at him!

Event deets here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/dollar10-punk-show