Coming Up on Revolution Rock in February 2023 & Shows # 972, 971, 970

As February arrives, Revolution Rock is prepping for its annual theme month programming. Every episode that airs in February will be devoted to a specific theme. Dave and Adam have some cool programming lined up ranging from our annual Black History Month program to our Revolution Surf episode. Revolution Rock can be streamed and downloaded from cjam.ca (and also after it airs on this website). Revolution Rock became a syndicated program back in 2020 and can now be heard on thirteen different campus/community radio stations across Canada in addition to CJAM FM.

Continue reading to find out about this year’s schedule for Theme Month:

Raw Power 50th Anniversary Special
February 4th, 2023
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)



Originally released on February 7th, 1973, Raw Power is the third full-length album by The Stooges. Renamed Iggy & The Stooges due to Pop's new contract, the lineup change in the group to Iggy Pop on lead vocals, James Williamson on lead guitar, original guitarist Ron Asheton (who switched to bass) and original drummer Scott Asheton on drums. As the story goes after the release of Fun House in 1970, the band were dropped from their label due to low album sales in addition to the band’s unpredictability due to drug abuse related issues. With the band splitting up in July of 1971, Iggy Pop then met David Bowie and became good friends. Through Bowie, Pop got a new recording contract and Iggy Pop and James Williamson went to the UK in March of 1972 to get a new band together to record an album. After failing to find suitable musicians, both Ron and Scott Asheton were brought back into the band. Raw Power was created in just a brief period of time in the UK at CBS Studios with engineer Mike Ross-Trevor and was produced by Iggy Pop & David Bowie. Recorded from September 10th to October 6th in 1972, Raw Power featured just eight tracks. It was not a commercial success. It would go on to become a cult classic and eventually regarded as an important and highly influential album. Bogged down with issues relating to the album’s mix, it was originally mixed by David Bowie, remixed by Iggy Pop in 1997 for a CD reissue and countless bootlegs and editions of this album were released. In 2023, a remastered mix of Iggy Pop's mix and David Bowie's mix were made available digitally. However, the songs that make up this album would go on to influence generations of musicians becoming one of the most important and influential albums in rock music history. Paving the way for punk, Raw Power displays an uncompromising furiousness fraught with emotion, anger, incendiary guitar and an omnipresent, biting viciousness.

On this episode of Revolution Rock we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Raw Power by playing the album in full, made up of different mixes of the album in addition to playing a selection of demos and outtakes from rehearsal sessions recorded around this time period.

Otto Motto: A By Divine Right Special
February 11th, 2023
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Jose Contreras is a Chilean born, Toronto based artist best known for playing guitar and singing in the highly influential proto-indie rock band By Divine Right. Seen as one of the most vital bands within the Canadian alternative rock scene, they were founded in 1989. By Divine Right has released eight full-length albums to date in addition to a myriad of singles and EPs. Following 1995’s self-titled release and 1997’s All Hail Discordia, Bless This Mess was released in 1999 and the band toured with the Tragically Hip. 2010’s Mutant Message was long listed for a Polaris Music Prize. The lineup changes of By Divine Right throughout their early years occurred often and would feature future Canadian music stars Leslie Fiest, Brendan Canning (of Broken Social Scene) and Brian Borcherdt (of Holy Fuck), among others. The current lineup of the band featuring Jose Contreras on guitar/vocals, Geordie Dynes on drums and Alysha Haugen on bass has been the band lineup since 2010. 2022’s sprawling double album Otto Motto brought together this lineup once again. Over the last couple of records it hasn’t always been the full band, they were featured on some tracks on previous albums with other musicians and the full band is featured on BDR’s Depeche Mode cover album Speak & Spell from 2016, which was recorded in the band’s rehearsal space. In addition to By Divine Right, Jose Contreras has also released several solo albums starting with his critically acclaimed self-titled solo album in 2014. In 2019 he released At The Slaughterhouse, a sparse, direct and reflective collection of songs. Contreras has performed live with many different musicians and is an in demand record producer. In 2018 he released the debut self-titled album in collaboration with Shotgun Jimmie called The Heat Death.

On this program we will feature a selection of By Divine Right songs from their discography in addition to songs from Jose’s solo catalog and with other bands he has collaborated/recorded with. We will also be interviewing Jose Contreras for this episode discussing the making of Otto Motto, songwriting, playing the Phog Lounge in Windsor and much more. This episode will air on the day of By Divine Right’s show in Windsor, Ontario at the Phog Lounge as part of their current tour.

Punky Reggae Party II: Catch A Fire’s 50th Anniversary
February 18th, 2023
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

When People think of Reggae, Bob Marley often comes to mind. Before he became more famous, he had been involved in the Jamaican music scene as far back as 1962, when he was just a teenager. The Wailers was a group he formed early on with friends and went through a few different band name changes before becoming known as The Wailers. They first released an album in 1965 called The Wailing Wailers. The group featured Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, all of whom would be successful reggae artists on their own. Catch A Fire was the fifth full-length studio album released by The Wailers (on some editions credited as Bob Marley & The Wailers). This album was originally released in April of 1973 and was their first release for Island Records. It also featured the original lineup of the band of Bob Marley (guitar/vocals), Peter Tosh (organ/guitar/piano/vocals), Bunny Wailer (bongos/congas/vocals), Aston Barrett (bass) and Carlton Barrett (drums). It would be the last album to feature Peter Tosh as tensions within the band and management were on edge at this time. It was recorded at three different studios in 1972 in Kingston, Jamaica, the tapes were then flown back to London, England with Marley and worked on with producer/label found Chris Blackwell. With Marley’s supervision, Blackwell remixed the tracks at Island Studios and overdubbed on the tracks with Muscle Shoals session guitarist Wayne Perkins. Featuring now classic track such as “Kinky Reggae,” “Slave Driver,” “Concrete Jungle” and two tracks by Peter Tosh (“400 Years” & “Stop That Train”), Catch A Fire was one of the first international roots/reggae records distributed and would set Marley on the path to superstardom. The original unreleased version of the album as recorded in Jamaica before session musicians overdubbed parts and remixes were done was released in 2001 as part of a deluxe edition of the album. Catch A Fire celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2023.

On this edition of Revolution Rock we will be doing Punky Reggae Party II, a continuation of a theme month episode we did for Black History Month back in 2021. This episode will feature reggae that influenced punk focusing on sets with music from The Wailers Catch A Fire album, Toots and the Maytals, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, in addition to a selection of more reggae music, blues, soul, jazz music and more.

Revolution Surf 2023: Shake Five
February 25th, 2023
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

The Routes are a garage band based in Oita, Japan. Pulling in influences of 60s American psych, garage punk, surf, blues and British Invasion bands, they have been releasing music since 2007, starting with Left My Mind. They released their first instrumental album in 2012 comprised of instrumental and surf recordings. In recent years they have been releasing two albums, one instrumental, one with vocals. In 2021, they released Mesmerised in 2021 in addition to Instrumentals II and Shake Five (another instrumental based album). In 2022, The Twang Machine was released. This album was made up of rearranged surf rock cover versions of Kraftwerk songs. Later in 2022, The Routes released Lead Lined Clouds and the instrumental surf album Get Past Go! They are known as a no gimmick garage punk band. The Routes are fronted by prolific musician/songwriter Chris Jack and we will be featuring a selection of tracks from The Routes latest instrumental album Get Past Go! and their other releases. Chris will talking about the recording of The Routes two most recent albums, the formation of the band and recording early albums in Japan. He will also be talking about three of his favourite surf tracks and we will be playing them on the show. In addition to these things we will also be featuring a wide range selection of past and current surf songs for this year’s edition of Revolution Surf.

This episode will also feature an exclusive interview with Chris Jack talking about The Routes musical history, surf music and their surf influences and more.

Check out the most recent episodes/playlists of Revolution Rock below:

Show 972 (Originally Aired On January 28th, 2023)(Tom Verlaine, The Minutemen, Husker Du, Deja Voodoo, Bob Dylan, The Sons of Adam):

1.  Television - Marquee Moon
2.  The Minutemen - Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs
3.  The Minutemen - Fake Contest
4.  Husker Du - Gravity
5.  Husker Du - From the Gut
6.  Deja Voodoo - Van Gogh's Ear
7.  Deja Voodoo - You're No Fun When Your Head's All Mushy
8.  Deja Voodoo - Surfing on Mars
9.  CLAMM - I Can Do It
10. Teleporters - Teleporters Go!
11. The Jackets - Misery of Man
12. Sons of Adam - Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day
13. Fender IV - Everybody Up
14. Ghost Woman - Anne, If
15. Bob Dylan - Mississippi (version 2)
16. Bruce Springsteen - It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City
17. John Cale - Night Crawling
18. Brock Pytel - Anemic Heart
19. Iggy Pop - Strung Out Johnny
20. Visitors - Empty Rooms
21. Diamondtown - Make It Back
22. King Tuff - Smalltown Stardust
23. Fucked Up - Found
24. Class of 91 - Little Fiction
25. Silver Jews - Tennessee
26. Mac DeMarco - Vancouver 2
27. Apollo Ghosts - Give Up the Dream

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 28 file to download/stream the episode. 

Show 971 (Originally Aired On January 21st, 2023)(David Crosby, The Byrds, The Wipers, Dumb, The Users, Guided By Voices):

1.  Guided by Voices - Instinct Dwelling
2.  The C.I.A. - Inhale Exhale
3.  Self-Cut Bangs - Gibberish
4.  Blessed - Anything
5.  Wares - Tether
6.  The Fall - Cruiser's Creek
7.  Dylan - Tracers
8.  Bush Tetras - Snakes Crawl
9.  Uh Huh - Somewhere Beyond
10. The Byrds - Stranger in a Strange Land
11. The Byrds - What's Happening?!?!
12. The Byrds - Tribal Gathering
13. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Almost Cut My Hair
14. The Routes - Lead Lined Clouds
15. By Divine Right - Wild Ducks
16. Knitting - Throwaway Year
17. Julianna Riolino - Isn't It A Pity
18. Daniel, Fred & Julie - No One Knew My Name
19. Wipers - Over the Edge
20. Wipers - Romeo
21. Dumb - 77
22. Gloin - Work Patrol
23. The Users - (I'm) In Love With Today
24. The Kids - Do You Wanna Know
25. The Bags - Survive
26. Lost Patrol - In Your Eyes

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 21 file to download/stream the episode. 

Show 970 (Originally Aired On January 14th, 2023) (Terry Hall, The Specials, The Clean, The Yardbirds, The Routes, Mark Sultan, King Khan):

1.  The Rolling Stones - Flight 505 
2.  The Yardbirds - Over Under Sideways Down 
3.  The 13th Floor Elevators - Reverberation (Doubt) 
4.  The Ugly Ducklings - Do What You Want 
5.  Les Sinners - Sinerisme 
6.  The Specials - Concrete Jungle 
7.  The Specials - Rat Race (BBC Session) 
8.  The Specials - Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think) 
9.  The Specials - Friday Night, Saturday Morning
10. Fun Boy Three - The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum 
11. The ColourField - The Colourfield 
12. Status/Non-Status - January 3rd 
13. Mount Eerie - Huge Fire
14. Packs - Abalone
15. Jeen - Mountain 
16. The Clean - Tally Ho! 
17. The Clean - Oddity 
18. The Clean - Slug Song 
19. The Clean - Anything Could Happen 
20. Strange Attractor - Dog Walker 
21. The Routes - Twist Each Word 
22. Ichi-Bons - The Dust of Life 
23. Richard Thompson - Pony in the Stable 
24. Robyn Hitchcock - The Sir Tommy Shovel 
25. The Grapes of Wrath - Good to See You 
26. Mark Sultan - Killing Time
27. King Khan - Snarling Lil' Malcom 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 14 file to download/stream the episode.