NOMEANSNO
NOMEANSNO is to Canadian rock what Noam Chomsky is to
American leftists: brash, smart, outspoken, and they don't give
a toss if you think they're punk or not. Some people waste their
time talking about it, but, if you're smart, you'll ignore labels
and check these guys out.
The band is a three-piece (occasionally a four-
piece when they can afford for their second
drummer, Ken, to come on tour) made up of the
Wright Brothers (Rob and John on bass and
drums) and Tom Holliston on guitar. Originally
from Victoria, British Columbia, they now reside
in
Vancouver and have been together for over
twelve years. Their legendary machine-gun-stac-
cato punk (yes, punk!) attack has kept kids amped
for years, and their newest LP, The Worldhood of
the World as
d as Such, is no disappointment. Rob
usually writes a lot of the s
lot of the songs, but this LP is
ess bass-heavy than some of their previous
records. Still, don't think of some cheesy-ass,
Primus bass bullshit; NOMEANSNO is punk, not
"funky." with elements of jazz, blues, traditional
roll and punk bands like the Stranglers.
Those who define punk as mohawks and three-
chords should take a cue from Rob: "The thing
about punk rock is not so much the style of music
that's being played, but the attitude that people
are playing it with. The styles and abilities are
widely varied, and that's what we try to do. It's
much the style you play, but the heart and
soul you t into it."
When NOMEANSNO tours, it can take a couple of
years, because, as Rob puts it, "there are a lot of
places we like to play." They like playing all-ages
shows when they can and wowed an arena full of
skaters at Slam City Jam in Vancouver a couple of
years back. Their live show is not to be missed.
As for the title of their record, I asked Rob just
of the world as such is:
the pompous title of our new record! We stole that
from some German philosophy, which is my hobby
from some
on
to read continuously. A lot of the songs on the
record seem to be about the wide world and what's
going on with people's endeavors therein. It just
seemed to be more of an outward-looking record
than we usually do, certainly quite incongruous to
the ones we did before"--Wez Lundry
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