A PROUD DAY IN LEAF NATION.

When it comes to professional hockey and the world built around it, obedience to orthodoxy tends to rule the day. Hilarious caricatures of swaggering chauvinism like Brian Burke and Don Cherry are held up as hockey’s most cherished personalities.

So anyone else see Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Wade Belak on TSN responding to reporters wanting to know how Leaf players felt about a new movie entitled ​“Breakfast With Scot” whose main characters are two gay men (one of who is supposed to be a retired Leaf) trying to raise a (possibly gay) kid in a homophobic society? How many other NHL enforcers do you see suggesting that critics of the film ​“get with the times” and comparing the struggle against homophobia to the civil rights movement and women’s suffrage? How many other NHL teams do you see giving their stamp of approval to a film that flies in the face of professional hockey’s traditionally moronic values? The answer is of course: none. This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the many reasons why — despite the fact that MLSE is indeed a most laughable and pathetic ownership among laughable and pathetic NHL ownerships — the Leafs rule. It’s called character.

We are Leaf Nation: Fragile. Inconsistent. Generally disliked and above all: righteous.

The Rebel Spell

To me the words ​“good” and ​“punk band” don’t really belong in the same sentence much anymore. But once in a while, something crawls out of the old woodwork and punches your head with goodness.

Check out this Vancouver band, The Rebel Spell to see who’s carrying the torch for non-poser punk rock these days. We played a few shows with them out east a while back. They were rad. Now they’re playing here in the ​‘Peg (at the Albert) on the 29^th of this month. Should be pretty boss, as Murray Bozinsky used to say on my once-favorite TV series Riptide.

Here On Earth

Hello kind dickfaces, how are you?

Two things of potential interest for you today:

1) Check out this link to read a short endorsement of the important book Human Cargo by Caroline Moorehead by resident bongo Todd ​“The Rod” Kowalski.

2) when you can no longer hold your gaze exclusively upon the horrors of this planet, check this out and see if it doesn’t help you regain your bearings. It does for me.

Central and South American Bands, Who's Victor Jara?, and Some Photos.

Well, Here I sit in my little chair.

Here’s a list of some bands that we played with or gave us some CD’s in Central and South America. I hope you’ll check some of them out. Everyone was really nice. The list is only partly done. A little something for everypud. I will add more very soon…

Anfo-Peru Emancipacion Colectiva-Argentina Play Attenchon-Peru Estado Naranja-Peru Lemmiwinks-Panama Da Skate, and Hyuntu-Argentina Late Night Condition-Argentina Safari Hamburguers-Brazil Eterna Inocencia-Argentina Colligere-Brazil Elleven-Brazil Your Fall-Brazil Euforia HC-Brazil Desarme-Peru Diazepunk-Peru Bufonic-Costa Rica Vadca-Chile Fuerza De Voluntad-Chile Radicales Libre-Panama Envydust-Brazil Seven Eight Life Recordings-brazil Kacttus-Brazil In Chile we played at a place caled Galpon Victor Jara. It is named after the famous Chilean singer Victor Jara who was murdered as Pinochet came into power in 1973. There is a great book, written by his wife Joan Jara, called Victor: An Unfinished Song. Check these Photos out, for a good time! And these in Sao Paulo Gotta Split, for now! Ciao!

Our Pal Lance (photo update!)

“Suddenly you were gone from all the lives you left your mark upon…” Rush

This is a very sad day. Just got word that our buddy Lance Hahn is gone. When me and Jordy were just starting Propagandhi back in the late 80’s, we used to listen to Lance’s old band, Cringer, and devour Lance’s record reviews and writing in Maximum Rock n Roll. We looked up to him.

Years later, we met him in San Francisco and thought, ​“fuck, this is by far the nicest guy in San Francisco” (probably cuz he was from Hawaii) and actually became friends.

Lance had been in a legendary punk band called J‑Church for a number of years at that point, and he asked us if we wanted to go on a short tour of Japan and Hawaii with them. We were like, fuckin’ rights we do Lancey old boy! Turned out that Lance was the only member of J‑Church to make it through Japanese customs, so they were fucked. Or where they?? Lance, totally unphased, calmly suggested that WE would be his band. I was like ​“no way Lancey”, but then a few hours later there we were on stage in Japan as members of J‑Church, trying desperately not to mix up the parts for ​“My Favorite Place” with those from ​“Mary Provost”. How many people have that on their resume, eh? Well, quite a few actually (J‑Church had lots of members), but not EVERYBODY. It was cool.

We had some hilarious times over there with Lance. Kowalski drew a picture of him while he was sleeping and snoring in the van (he drew him without clothes in the picture). It was hysterical. I’m gonna find that drawing. We sat on a beach in Hawaii and ate sandwiches and talked hilarious smack about other punk bands and Lance’s hair.

We went on tour through the states with J‑Church again in 2001 and of course, Lance was the guy you’d be happy to see and talk to every day, no matter what was going on. It’s weird, i don’t have a single negative memory of him. How is that possible? He was truly one of a kind.

It’s hard to believe we’re not gonna hear Lance’s hilarious laugh in real-life ever again.

You were the best Lance. We’ll miss you and if you’re looking up from Hell at us right now, i hope you think it’s both rad and hilarious and fitting that i used a Rush quote at the beginning of this little memorial to you. i thought you’d like that. See you at the Eschaton, old buddy. 

OOOOOOOHHH, PROPAGANDHI!!!!

Ha ha, after you’ve checked out the photos in Todd’s link below, check out this clip from Buenos Aries. This is how Argentina rolls (please also note Todd’s unusual interpretive dance moves).

Some Photos From Sao Paulo..

Here’s a link to our friend Ericas’ website and some photos of the show in Sao Paulo, Brazil.. We’ll have more stuff up soon…

We’re back in the Peg, hard at work on the new tunes.….

Senor Toad's Wild Ride

Rejoice! We are back from the Southern Hemisphere!

Have you ever been on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland? I swear it is based on our trip through Central and South America. Talk about a whirlwind!

So i been sitting here trying to draw up a list of names of people we owe debts of gratitude to in each country we visited (like Cesar, our Brazilian Stallion who suffered our company the entire way), but i’m too scared of leaving people out of what is quickly becoming a mammoth list. It seemed like every city had a supporting cast of generous friends to help our main contacts pull off the impossible. You know who you all are and we couldn’t have done it without you. For me it was one of the most memorable and unique trips we’ve ever been on. We’ll be back someday and we’ll be hitting other places that people travelled from to see us like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Colombia.

I would also like to send a special shout out to Marie Trigona and Fabian from Grupo Alavio in Buenos Aires, who took time out from their tireless work to show us around and answer our questions about the worker-recuperation movement in Argentina. There is a living example of full-scale workplace democracy underway in Argentina, people. If there is a future for this planet that includes both humans and truly democratic societies, the Argentine worker’s recuperation struggle may well be remembered as one of that future’s cornerstones.

Check out Marie’s blog on Znet for more info.

Cheers y’all! Gracias! Obrigado!

Santiago, Chile leaves Propagandhi astounded!

Here we sit in Santiago, Chile after playing a great show in Lima, Peru. We said goodbye to our new Peruvian friends, slept for one hour and arrived in Chile to face a totally insane room of thrashers. I could not believe the urge to rock in this city. Amazing.

I can’t say enough about this tour so far. It has been a whirlwind of great people and great shows. We definitely have some friends down here now that we will never forget. When we get home I will make a list of some great Latin American bands and links to their websites, we´ll put up some photos and put together a homemade video of the trip for the internet.

Anyway it’s late, we’re all excited for the next show. We’ll see if it’s possible for Argentina and Brasil to bring it like Lima and Santiago!! We’ll certainly be thrashing our hardest!!

I was told I look like Alfred E. Newman in Lima… hahah..how’s that for MAD!?!

Here we come Buenos Aires, prepare your necks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buenos Noches!!!

Lima Tonight!

Hola!

We are now in Lima, Peru!

The shows in Costa Rica and Panama were great. The people were awesome. Todays special thanks goes out to Poti, Manny, Jesus and everybody in Panama for helping us out so much. It was beautiful.

So tonight we´ll thrash Lima and tommorrow Santiago, Chile!!!!

See you there. Gracias to everybody we´ve met. This has been a great trip so far. The other bands have been awesome.

Onward we Thrash!!!

We´ll see the rest of you in Chile, Argentina, and Brasil!!!!!!!!