Revolution Rock: Tales of the Late Night DJs & Episode # 1070

Late Night DJ Tales:

By: David Konstantino

December 14th, 2024 was the final episode of Revolution Rock. Broadcasting off and on for about 20 years is a long time. When the show first began in 2004, everything was different. Streaming wasn’t really a thing and most people still left CDs on repeat, instead of never-ending playlists. When I started the show, I was inspired to start a show because of a friend of mine, Farah, who had been hosting a punk/hardcore show called The New Era with Farah and Cara. The only thing I had to do was think of what I was going to play. There were already a few punk shows at the time and I didn’t want to replicate what The New Era was doing so well. I noticed there hadn’t been a show that played solely the original 70s punk music. So, I made a proposal to play a show that focused on that, primarily from the UK at first. I already detailed some of the early late-night DJ stories in a blog post about ten years ago, but the show since its very beginnings has been about discovering music.

Back in 2004, Adam Fox, who was the program director at the time, gave me my initial timeslot for the show. The first song played was “Search & Destroy” by Iggy & The Stooges. After basically playing the same stuff for a few years, music director Chris White really helped me expand my musical borders. CJAM celebrates underground and underappreciated music. The vinyl and music archive they have at the station was also key into me finding a lot of rare and unknown things to sink my teeth into. My show slowly started branching out and before I knew it, Revolution Rock was mixing in garage, post punk, alternative, indie, folk, country, surf and everything else in-between into the shows format. In 2014, I was going to end the show. But, when Adam Peltier joined in 2014 as a co-host, he brought new life to the show. A friend who also had a late night show when Revolution Rock started called Fear of Music, we had both been guests on each others shows and through the last ten or so years through the show we became close friends. With Adam joining as the new co-host, shows became more dynamic, spontaneous and focused on anniversaries and themes. He also brought a new dimension of knowledge and humour to the show, that can't go understated. I can’t thank him enough.

As far as themes. We always had themes, going back to when I started theme month many years ago. Every February, each week would have a different theme and end with my annual surf rock special. Derk Brigante would help with the annual surf special for many years. He used to host the Surfphony of Derstruction on CJAM, then it continued as a podcast/online program called The Surfphony of Derstruction 2000 before ending a few years ago. There were lots to discover in terms of surf music from the obscure early stuff, to the current surf bands playing. More interviews started popping up around the ten-year mark as well. I had done interviews few times in the early years of the program, but not much. Some memorable interviews were with Richard Hell, Chris Murphy, King Khan, Mark Sultan, Bloodshot Bill, Dion Lunadon, members of Mudhoney, Chad VanGaalen, Patrick Flegel, Mike Wallace, Travis Good, Don Pyle, Tommy Stinson, John Doe, The Garrys, Tymon Dogg, Shana Cleveland, and many others. In 2020, the show began its run in syndication, first on CFUV in Victoria, BC. From there it went on to air across 16 different stations throughout the last four years of the show. It may have been more, but at the time of writing this, it was airing on 16 stations. In 2024, the show also won the Best Rock Show or Similar award at the NCRA Awards.

When trying to discover different types of Canadian bands, Radio What Wave and the What Wave compilation albums/fan zines were another important element in the early days of the show. What Wave Dave (Dave O’Halloran) ran What Wave with his wife Rena in the late 80s/early 90s, their compilations had tons of cool and obscure garage/punk music from London, Ontario and all over Canada. Dave’s show on CHRW also pointed me in the direction of a few bands as well. The Gruesomes being another big one. It also led me to the discovery of Og Music, the label from Montreal in the 80s. Deja Voodoo and the bands found on the label and their compilations led to even more areas to explore in the underground music world. Yet another discovery.

Over the years there were also a few times when my film background combined with CJAM-related interests. In 2010, I released the short documentary film Voice of the Underground, chronicling CJAM FM’s transition from being on the 91.5 FM frequency to its current frequency at 99.1 FM. Along with filmmaker/graphic designer Greg Maxwell, myself and audio engineer/producer/musician Josh Kaiser, we started the CJAM Sessions in 2016. Inspired by the video series Rose City Sessions, which occurred about a decade prior and the KEXP Live Sessions, this was a live audio/video music series created for the station featuring touring bands that came through Windsor and local bands. Nine videos were created with this crew and a series of different Windsor filmmakers and one with some of this crew. Each video contained three songs each and total about ten minutes each or less. Those videos can be viewed here.

There are many people to thank that have had an impact on me and the program throughout its existence. The listeners. Anyone that’s ever listened to the show, you are a part of its history. My family, CJAM Staff past and present. Adam Fox for giving me my show, Chris White for helping me see beyond the borders of punk and connecting with the present, Cassandra Caverhill, Sarah Morris, Vern Smith, Brady Holek, Carley Schweitzer, Walter Petricyn, Derk Brigante, Murad Erzinclioglu, Mattu Findlater, my original co-host Joe, Rosina Riccardo, Matt Froese, Jim Meloche, Joe McGreggor, Farah Barakat, Czarina Mendoza, Chris Crossroads, Clara Musca, Nicole Markham, Willy Wilson, Nick of Radio Drill Time, Kieran Owen, Marc Cazabon, Slim Gene (of Jump Kat Jump), Ken Getty, the past and present hosts of In the Garage, Benny Dreadful, Josh Kaiser, Greg Maxwell, Tim Swaddling, Jeff Vandussen, Dave O’Halloran (out of CHRW in London), all of the stations that have syndicated us over the years (and anyone else I may have forgotten). Kieran also wrote a great article that was posted on the day of the final episode about hearing the show for the first time many years ago. Thank you for that Kieran and for being a guest host over the last few years on Revrock.

Prior to even doing a show, one of my favourite things to do was find out what the B-Side was on singles that were being played on the radio. For example, one of the B-sides to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit single was the song “Aneurysm,” the B-Side to The Police’s Message in a Bottle was the punk track “Landlord,” The Clash had many good singles and B-Sides such as “Jail Guitar Doors,” “1977,” “Pressure Drop.” These are just a few of the songs, but they seemed more interesting and sometimes drastically different the other song found on that single. I would often prefer the non-single, perhaps a sign that CJAM would be a good place for me. This show has always been about discovering music from the underground of the past and present. There is great music out there, you just have to dig for it sometimes. This can be said of other things too I suppose, sometimes you never know what you’ll find if you don’t try. Expect the unexpected. So how do you end a show that has been running since 2004? Me and Adam decided, nothing flashy. Just a regular show. Nothing planned, something spontaneous. This is something that has been a constant throughout the history of this show, of course we planned things, but the spontaneity, maybe that’s what it was. Hopefully through Revolution Rock, you found something you liked here.

More Late Night DJ Tales:

By: Adam Peltier

My first exposure to Dave and Revolution Rock was, oddly enough, not hearing him over the radio. It was through the piercing glow of a computer monitor one late Wednesday evening as I scoured through the playlists of shows proceeding my graveyard time slot on CJAM 99.1 FM (then 91.5 FM). I was a few months into hosting my first radio show, a strange patchwork program in which me and my co-host (coincidentally enough, also named David) played a range of post-punk, experimental music, soundtrack cuts, and J-Pop ballads. Attempting to fight off the fatigue assailing us as the clock ticked past 2am, we scrolled through the playlists of other programs to see what our fellow CJAM hosts were playing. Lodged between the range of music variety and eclectic talk shows was a program whose name immediately drew my attention: Revolution Rock. Of course, recognizing the title taken from the wonderful Clash song, I was drawn to inspect what this other show had played in the previous weeks. 

“Whoever this person is, they seem to play the same sort of music you like.” 

I nodded at my co-host's observation, seeing the program's set-lists peppered by some of my favourite artists: Talking Heads, The Stooges, Television, the Velvets, and a number of garage rock revivalists. I felt an immediate musical kinship with whomever it was that hosted this other late-night program, and each week I would jot down the names of unfamiliar acts recorded on Revrock's playlist: the D4, the Scenics, and Outrageous Cherry were quickly added to my own listening habits. 

I first met David by chance at a CJAM-hosted event. We struck up a casual conversation, exchanging the usual pleasantries, before properly introducing ourselves. That's when I understood: this was the man, the person behind Revolution Rock. I confessed admiration for his program, and our talk quickly entered into comparing notes and making recommendations. We spoke of the importance of Lou Reed, the criminal under-appreciation of Public Image Ltd., and, of course, our mutual love of The Clash. We would encounter each other more frequently after that, developing a friendship built on our passion for music, yet cemented in our growing appreciation of one another as people. I found Dave quirky, often self-effacing, yet always funny. He soon shifted from somebody whose musical taste I shared into a person I considered a close friend. We soon began inviting one another onto our programs, where we publicly blathered and gushed about our favoured artists.  

The years passed, and as happens, our paths diverged. I moved out of the city, returning years later to find David one of the few pillars of consistency in this ever-shifting municipality. He remained a host on CJAM, still proudly carrying the banner of Revolution Rock. As if no time had passed, he invited me back onto the show. I guest-hosted a handful of episodes, enjoying the familiar feel of being on-air, yet taking it as nothing more than a casual stint to assuage nostalgia. This was David's show, and he was simply being gracious enough to invite an old friend on-air. This would not lead to anything else. 

As often happens, I was proven wrong. The sporadic trips to CJAM shifted into consistent visits every Saturday, David encouraging me to bring records and songs that I wanted to play. I cannot recall the exact episode, but during the selection of a set-list David asked me for my opinion on what to play next. 

“Don't ask me Dave: it's your show.” 

He shook his head. 

“No, no: it's our show.” 

On that day I realized that I was no gratuitous appendix or casual guest-host: I was a part of Revolution Rock. 

We spent nearly the next ten years on-air together refining our craft. We grew as a program and as people. No longer feeling cemented in the locus of new wave and punk, we began playing rockabilly, jazz, reggae, film soundtracks, and noise. Yes, the linchpin of the program was still new wave and punk, but we felt emboldened enough to delve into other forms of music. The show had truly evolved. Revolution Rock was no longer a cheeky reference to a Clash song, it was a Revolution, a broadening of the paradigm of what could be considered rock. 

Milestones followed. Revrock entered into national syndication. We performed dream interviews with the likes of Television's Richard Lloyd, Patrick Flegel of Cindy Lee, Wire's Colin Newman, and Richard Hell. We even somehow continued producing episodes during the lockdowns of the early 2020s. It felt like nothing could stop us. Yet, here we are at the end. 

Revolution Rock did not stop due to cancellation, time constraints, nor from any other outside force. It was casual, almost anti-climatic. Simply put, we both felt we had achieved all we wanted with the program. We ended it on our own terms: no fanfare, no bombast, just a simple episode to end our tenure on-air. The last episode aired on December 14th, 2024, James Williamson's shrieking guitar ending the program just as it had begun all those years ago. 

It will be surreal not to compile songs for each Saturday, not to gush to David weekly over the latest record I've delved into, or to discuss what artists we would next dare to interview. Still, our choice is made and we stand by it. Revolution Rock became something beyond what either of us dreamed it could ever be, introducing us to incredible music and people during its run. I could thank a great number of individuals that have encouraged me over the years, but most of them have already been thanked by David. However, there are three in particular that I feel the need to name. First, my partner Ost. Your love and encouragement have kept me going over the years. Second, David Foot, my early co-host who encouraged me to get weird on-air and not be afraid of breaking the self-imposed confines of what I thought good music could be. And lastly, the founder of Revrock himself, David Konstantino. Your humility, passion, and friendship have taught me many things, and I consider it an honour to have shared a show with you for so many years. 

Peace and love to all that have supported us over the years: we could not have done it without you. 

Catch the playlist and link to hear the final episode below, while you can.

Show 1070 Playlist (Originally Aired on December 14th, 2024) (Revolution Rock: The Final Episode):

1. The Spy’s - Underground
2. Patti Smith - Gloria (Version)
3. Sonic Youth - Eric’s Trip
4. Lost Charm - Trail of Dimes
5. Dion Lunadon - 1976
6. Ramones - Judy is a Punk (Demo)
7. Pixies - Cactus
8. Bad Hoo - Fake Future that Never Came to Fruition
9. Deja Voodoo - Too Cool To Live Too Smart To Die
10. Miranda and the Beat - New York Video
11. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Egypt Texas
12. The Damned - Stab Your Back
13. Johnny West - He Was Saved By Poultry Under the Shadow of Beef
14. Bob Dylan - I Want You
15. Neil Young - Tell Me Why
16. The Velvet Underground - Run Run Run
17. The Gories - Boogie Chillun
18. King Khan & BBQ Show - Hold Me Tight
19. Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin - I Wear Black
20. Link Wray - Law of the Jungle
21. The Clash - Wrong ‘Em Boyo
22. The Cramps-  People Ain’t No Good
23. Joy Division - Interzone
24. Women - Venice Lockjaw
25. Television - Venus
26. Devo - Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy Down
27. David Bowie - Breaking Glass
28. Paul Jacobs - Dancing with the Devil
29. Iggy & The Stooges - Search & Destroy

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

Revrock: A Listener's Notes

Written by Kieran Owen

I first arrived in Windsor October 2017. I found it isolating, a little strange and far too cold. The public transport was terrible. The urban was sprawled. And bloody hell did I mention it was cold? Like the wind was impossibly cold. Penetrating, inescapable. I would read the temperature on my phone-screen in celsius but the bitterness I felt in my bones would ask me 'Are you sure that’s not 1 degree fahrenheit? This can’t be right mate. None of this is right.'

As the months and years passed, comforts, quirks and comrades were acquired that now make this place feel more like a home. One of them is a weekly radio show that’s been broadcasting long before I arrived here. I remember clearly the first time I heard it, sitting in my then girlfriend’s car, driving up University Avenue towards the Ambassador Bridge (unknown to me then that this was very close to the station it was broadcasting from). Flicking through the radio dial aimlessly I heard something I recognised (DURR-NURR, DUNN DUNN, DURR-NURR) 'Hey, leave that on!'

Bob Dylan once said that a great thing about rock ‘n’ roll is you can hear 1 second out of a passing car and know who it is. Well this was The Jam’s ‘A’ Bomb on Wardour Street’ and it doesn’t get more rock based on that criteria. A chugging, primitive guitar riff throughout. The entire song is nearly just two chords, a feat so dumb that only a smart person like Paul Weller could pull it off. I hadn’t heard it since adolescence and it ruled to hear it there and then.

After that excitement, two voices followed. They were friendly and yet sort of subdued. Irreverent but informative. Sometimes they overlapped and talked like they were in opposition with each other. Yet ultimately they had a rapport that said they had known each other for years and had probably been doing this gig for years. They were a perfect pairing. This was Adam and David and the show was Revolution Rock on CJAM 99.1FM.

David Konstantino first aired Revolution Rock in the summer of 2004 when he was a university student. At the time there were punk and hardcore shows on the station, which broadcasts from a basement situated in the University of Windsor and can be heard on FM in both Windsor and Detroit. However David felt there wasn’t anything really playing music that represented the early incarnations and roots of the genre. The likes of the Ramones, Pistols, Clash, UK 78, post-punk, new wave or even the proto-punk of Iggy and the Stooges. The first song he played was "Search and Destroy" by the latter. He has a recording of that first show along with a 2 decade archive that spans both the digital and analogue. Tapes, dated and organised on shelves, hand-written playlists and bottomless hard drives. By David’s calculations there have been 1070 episodes of Rev Rock and he's missing around 5-10. As someone who has often tried and failed to keep a diary, I find self documentation like this both enviable and bewildering.

For the first 10 years David was the sole presenter of the show and stuck dutifully to his focus on pure punk. In a blog post from 2014 to mark the 500th episode, Dave recounts this period with tales of drunken studio invaders, furious techno fans calling in to tell him the music he plays sucks, as well as encounters with a presenter from the show before him, who would broadcast shirtless because it made him ‘perform better.’

After 10 years, Dave’s good friend Adam joined and the show became an amorphous beast. The definition of punk took a backseat. Rock was the remit, however rock was rightfully ascribed to be more of a feeling and an attitude. The playlists became more eclectic and varied. The artists played more diverse and less genre defined. There were Black History Month specials on soul, funk, R&B, dub, jazz and blues. Features on Miles Davies, the influence of reggae on punk.

During this period, the show became syndicated so it could be heard all across Canada. They also conducted well received interviews with the likes of Athens Post-punk outfit Pylon, members of the highly regarded Women from Calgary (Cindy Lee/Patrick Flegel), punk rock pioneer Richard Hell and Tommy Stinson of the Replacements, the latter of which picked them up a National Campus Radio Association award in the category Best Rock Show or similar. There were interviews with minority Canadian artists in the field of garage, retro-rock and psych like Bloodshot Bill and King Khan. As well as conversations with seminal and highly influential musicians like Colin Newman (Wire), Richard Lloyd (Television) and Tobin Sprout (Guided By Voices).

This Saturday will be the final installment of Revolution Rock. 1000+ episodes in and just over 20 years. Now I’m of the mindset that if you haven’t wrapped something up by around the, I don't know, let's say your 8th year doing it, then you might as well just keep doing it until you die. Adam and Dave seem to disagree for some reason. Fun fact, they both share the exact same birthday. Same day, same year. And to be around them, You’d swear they were brothers. (Adam is a few hours older, we’ve established).

So they’re moving on from Rev Rock, at least in its current format as a weekly show. Maybe there will be one-offs appearances and specials, who knows. There'll be an extended break before anything like that is decided. They had their fun and to be fair, so did I! I had the pleasure of appearing as a guest on the show multiple times. In these moments I got to appreciate the Adam and David dynamic up close. Adam is the facts guy, the music encyclopedia. He keeps track of anniversaries to celebrate, landmark record release dates etc. He likes themes, some form of structure. I recall playing a song off a compilation and when the time came to introduce it, I blanked, forgetting the original album it came from, Adam was ready to helpfully interject citing the album title and year off the top of his head. His knowledge of music and ability to chat with detail and passion about the songs he’s just played, illuminating where they sit in the story of the artist’s biography or providing context about the time and place they were written is journalistic and impressive. He’s off script, no prompts or notes, loquacious to the point that you could just be sitting at a bar, drinking with him and sharing a poutine.

My dad, listening to BBC radio back in the UK, would share a similar sentiment with me about the BBC 6 Music presenters Radcliffe and Maconie, regarding their expertise and knowledge. This has some truth but let’s not forget that shows like that come with teams of researchers, not to mention a producer never far from whispering in their ear. Adam and Dave did this voluntarily, no pay and little perks, aside from the odd free gig ticket here and there and a dedicated, weekly caller (who will remain unnamed) who would tell them both about his life before inviting them on camping trips and making requests that they play Taylor Swift.

David is also insightful but his approach is more free-wheeling. He’ll show up with a stack of CDs probably picked in the morning, to throw on, off the cuff, without too much thought about how they might sound together, ‘we could try it’ is one of his favourite phrases. Perhaps an exercise in keeping things exciting after so many years. He talks into the mic with zero affectation, in a relaxed manner to an extent that I’ve never really witnessed before. What you hear is completely him. After years of student radio, stints working within radio at the BBC and more recently guest appearances on CJAM, I still can’t shy away from putting on a bit of a ‘radio voice.’ Call it a Welsh penchant for performance, I don’t know. David, the CJAM veteran, is a natural.

So what’s next for the two of them? David makes short films and writes music. Adam writes fiction and makes music. There’s talk of an interview podcast and some sort of public access TV inspired platform. Perhaps they’ll revolutionise our public libraries from within. Maybe they’ll usurp the New Democratic Party, making it an electoral force not seen since the days of Jack Layton? Am I getting carried away? All I know is that I’m not gonna reminisce about the show too much yet and just look forward to their next projects. There’ll be repeats heard from the CJAM archive (God knows they’ve got plenty of them) and on those syndicated stations across Canada too. Maybe one day, years from now I’ll return to a car after a day at a beach in Cape Breton, looking forward to a beer and some dinner, with that feeling of calm that only swimming in the sea brings. Sitting on a beach towel over the car seat, I hear familiar voices speaking under the whoosh of the AC, ‘hey’ I say to my present company. ‘I know those guys!’

Or perhaps I’m in Alberta, on one of those long, straight roads that go further than the horizon. I hear Joe Strummer’s voice, I hear Ty Segall talking to a puppet, I hear the comically despondent drawl of Douglas Hart from The Jesus Mary and Chain, part of the sound collage which introduces each episode of Revolution Rock. The sun setting a shade of peach before me in the way it does in the Prairies. Then I’ll say to myself. ‘Well done Adam. Well done David.’

2024 Album Highlights & Shows 1069, 1068, 1067, 1066

For our annual albums of the year episodes, Revolution Rock once again did not rank any of the albums with any specific number. The following selections for the two episodes posted here feature a mix of albums from 2024 in no specific order, but all of them were albums that we enjoyed. Below you will also find six write-ups from albums that were released in 2024, three written by Dave and three written by Adam. Following these words are playlists and download/listening links to two episodes featuring music released in 2024 (as well as a few other playlists and episodes).

2024 Album Highlights:
Written by Adam Peltier

Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee

Diamond Jubilee sounds unlike anything else that came out in 2024. Part retro-futurist queer fantasy, part alien broadcast from a David Lynch film, the album is less a collection of songs and more a bizarre enveloping sonic landscape.

The seventh record by Patrick Flegel’s experimental drag rock project Cindy Lee, this triple album came as a surprise release. Dropping without fanfare or press back in March, it was released exclusively as a continuous YouTube stream and on Flegel’s official Realistik Studios Web 1.0-style website. Diamond Jubilee quickly went on to draw a lot of attention from online fans and the music press, racking up critical acclaim and a cult following, despite the unassuming method of its release. The album was even shortlisted for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize, the first time a record without a physical release had been nominated for the award.

Its no wonder the record drummed up such acclaim; the mishmash of girl group pop, psychedelica, and 90’s lo-fi indie was unlike anything else released this year, a masterwork coming out from the duo of Flegel and multi-instrumentalist Steven Lind, whose golden guitar tones and grooving bass harkened back to the halcyon recordings of Mo-Town and Tamla. Then there are the songs, each a pocket dimension, an indelible short narrative fleshing out the mysteries of the Cindy Lee universe. “Stone Faces” propels forward with its hypnotic rhythm. “Wild Rose” tramps ahead drunkenly on high-heeled guitar picks, threatening but never teetering over into chaos. The longing “Golden Microphone” might be the album’s most conventionally beautiful moment, a rock and roll prayer for transcendent love.

It’s the rare triple record that never overstays its welcome. Instead, the sheer quality and quantity of the music here is astounding. Both sparkling and foggy, longing and acerbic, Diamond Jubilee is an album quite unlike anything else.

Jessica Pratt - Here In the Pitch

There is something in the hypnogogic mood of Here in the Pitch that is both stirring and pensive. Much like the shadow drenched figure of Jessica Pratt on the album’s cover, there is something about these arrangements that feel veiled in darkness. A liminal sense of uncertainty permeates what could have easily been little more than a nostalgic tribute to the bygone hippie era of Pratt’s native California. Instead, the songs mutate and shift into something darker and more ominous. Marianne Faithful is too easy a comparison to make, especially when Pratt’s sensitive guitar work and pained vocals call to mind the melancholic records of Nick Drake, Karen Dalton, and Sibylle Baier.

Created alongside long-time collaborator Al Carlson, the expanded instrumentation of Here in the Pitch fleshes out Pratt’s sound, adding a newfound depth and diversity to her arrangements. Each track on this humble nine-song set feel like a tiny mystery, a Mansfieldian world of ambiguity and longing, twilight-tinged stories of desire and despair.

Easily Pratt’s most accomplished record, Here In the Pitch is a spacious and dreamy experience and is well-worth falling into its lush embrace.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead 

The cries of children. Bombardment rending families and bodies apart. Tears caked with grey dust billowing from the rubble. There is no ambiguity with this record. GY!BE are uncompromising in their direction, their warped guitars and visceral string arrangements evoking the horrors of the attacks on Gaza. Its an album that doesn't need words to have its message profoundly heard. This is urgent, brilliant, and utterly necessary music.

More 2024 Album Highlights:
Written by Dave Konstantino

Packs – Melt The Honey

Toronto-based band Packs began around 2019 as a solo project for songwriter Madeline Link. A full band emerged shortly after featuring Dexter Nash (guitar), Noah O’Neil (bass) and Shane Hooper on drums. With a few singles released online, they drew the attention of Fire Talk records and then released their debut album Take The Cake in 2021 and Crispy Crunchy Nothing followed in 2023. The band’s sound has been described as lo-fi indie rock, garage rock, and drawing influences from acts such as Pavement, Guided By Voices, Sebadoh and others, Link’s lyrics often pull from a literary aesthetic, delivering character driven stories at times, or evoking meaning from the mundane moments in life by balancing wit with humour. Packs third full-length album Melt the Honey arrived in January 2024.

Recorded in Mexico over the course of 11 days by the band themselves, Melt the Honey takes a more experimental approach to aspects of Packs sound, often wandering into psych, shoe gaze and folk territory while still staying true to the sounds of the band’s first two albums.  “89 Days” opens with a hazy more lethargic feel. Lyrically, Link sings “No backups for 89 days/I click on close, but the thought still remains/And as I fall asleep, I wish that I could change” touching on themes of unresolved tasks, missed opportunities and the passage of time in a poignant way. “Honey” is a more upbeat track. The album takes its title from this song. With acoustic guitars, steady drums, bass and electric guitar that cuts in and out with organ in the syrupy choruses, lyrics “Tar on the freeway marks on the wall/This is where I fall/Figuring out it's seriously what I wanted all this time” in the verses emphasize the complex layers and thrills of a new relationship. “HFCS” is a more lo-fi garage-sounding track. With lyrics “High fructose corn syrup” in the sugary sounding choruses, Link and Packs tackle the addictiveness of artificial based sugars over the real thing while also serving up a metaphor for authenticity. Throughout Melt the Honey, the music is raw, unfiltered and unafraid to experiment. Lyrically, the songs go deep into the complex layers of emotions with a new sense of optimism, still evoking meaning from the mundane with an undeniable wit and humour. Melt the Honey reverberates with lo-fi confident honeyed rhythms, melodies and lyrics that will be hard to forget.

Apollo Ghosts - Amethyst

In 2022, Apollo Ghosts returned bringing back elements of their jangle-punk sound with something new. On the stunning double album Pink Tiger (released on You've Changed Records), Apollo Ghosts featured one album (Pink) that was primarily acoustic with lyrics of loss, illness, death and memory in eleven tracks, while the other album (Tiger) leans towards more jangle-punk, garage sounds and features the remaining songs in this 22-song epic collection. Lyrically, this side of the album celebrates friendship, music and hope. It was recorded primarily as a three-piece band featuring Teacher, Amanda P. and Robbie N. In 2023, ahead of a European tour they released the psych-tinged digital single Gave Up the Dream. And in February 2023, a surprise mini-album/EP arrived digitally ahead of a Japanese tour titled Amethyst, released on You've Changed Records.

A collection of jangly punk songs, the brief selection of songs packs a mighty punch pulling from influences of Built To Spill, Pavement and Yo La Tengo. Along with the combination of jangle pop, indie, garage and punk, when combined with the witty lyrics of Adrian Teacher, gives Amethyst extra weight. Musically, the ever-evolving sound of Apollo Ghosts in addition to the already mentioned influences, also adds elements of bands such as Go Betweens and The Bats. “Ripping Invasives” starts off Amethyst and is a hard-hitting punk and post punk track with lyrics contrasting lies, dishonesty to dangerous invasive plants that need to be ripped out and destroyed to protect nature. The theme of killing parts of nature in order protect it operates on many levels here. “Rave Heaven” features a locked in mid-tempo groove with crunchy distorted guitars as lyrics such as “I’ll be the sun/And you’ll be the moon/Wildfires start/They’re starting so soon,” and “I’ll be honest/That I felt the healing coming/But I’m not sure it is or if the sentiment is gone,” about environmental factors such as climate change in a sardonic way, contrasting them to stormy elements of a relationship. Throughout Amethyst, lyrics deal with near death experiences, struggling with a world with leaders unmotivated by change, gentrification, among other things. Musically, the album is their loudest to date. On this EP, Apollo Ghosts show us that sincerity exists in a world of dishonesty, contrasting the dark with the light in a way that only they can.

Bad Hoo - A Run-In With Worms

Described as surfy sultry garage scuzz from Victoria, BC, Bad Hoo’s 2024 album A Run-In with Worms is an off the wall, fresh sounding album that is focused, strong and raw. Their last release 2020’s Right As Rain, delved into more experimentation musically and lyrically, delivering a potent, haunting mixture of sonic sounds during the 2020 climate. A Run-In with Worms builds on Right As Rain’s strong moments, propelling Bad Hoo further.

“Patrick Raw,” brings deep cutting basslines, drums and sporadic guitar riffs, with thought provoking lyrics “There is no competition/I am their competition” that open A Run-In with Worms on powerful note, fuzzy garage and surf riffs deliver “Old Outch” as witty lyrics “I felt evil on a Sunday/Goodness knows you’re going to/Run run run double time,” “Eat your spuds/Whole and live/They’ll grow out of you when you die/Or try old outch but there’s no pain/The chips in bed in your brains,” balance the absurdity of Sunday’s, the work week, chips, death and the evilness, frustrations and mundaneness of the real world, “Withering Hides” is a hard hitting track with rolling guitar riffs that navigate and slither between Oswald’s vocals, that pull from a literary context here delivering a mix of passion, love and vengeance-related themes.

“Hot Dr. Pibbs” is an ode to a 50s/60s marketing campaign to get people to drink hot Dr. Pepper around Christmastime. Switching focus to their competitor Dr. Pibbs, Bad Hoo produce a twisted, Crampsian, fuzzy garage descent, as they take something that seems like it could be nonsensical, but add wit, humour and a paranoid seriousness to it. Intense rolling drums, bass and sparse, interlocking guitars come forth in “Fake Futures That Never Came to Be.” Lyrically, words touch on failed environmental promises, touching on the CBC, David Suzuki, Damo Suzuki, Styrofoam, and an apocalyptic outlook that provides a cautious, yet eerily accurate picture of a future that may never exist. “Tickling Salt” marches in with garage psych dynamics, “…And the Corn,” brings forth crunchy garage rhythms and psych melodies among the undeniable wit and potency, balancing themes of past simplicities and present complexities. A Run-In with Worms, delivers raw, unfiltered scuzzy garage gems as it blurs the line between, garage, psych, punk and indie rock with dashes of surf rock. Bad Hoo writhe and trash with an undeniable, illuminating sharp, whimsical and thought-provoking outlook.

Show 1069 Playlist (Originally Aired On December 7th, 2024)(The Zombies, The Beatles, White Stripes, The Clean, Libertines, Horse Chops, Protomartyr):

1. Alvvays - Very Online Guy
2. U.S. Girls - Pearly Gates
3. Martha and the Muffins - Hide and Seek
4. Kate Fagan - 2 Good 2 Be True
5. Jessica Pratt - Get Your Head Out
6. The Clean - Anything Could Happen
7. The Saints - (I’m) Stranded (Original Mix)
8. Wire - Sand in My Joints (4th Demo Session)
9. The Undertones - True Confessions (Single Version)
10. The Libertines - Death on the Stairs
11. The White Stripes - Jumble, Jumble
12. The Hives - Missing Link
13. The Zombies - Tell Her No
14. The Zombies - It’s Alright with Me
15. The Zombies - Work N’ Play
16. The Beatles - No Reply
17. The Beatles - I’m A Loser
18. The Beatles - Baby’s in Black
19. Psychic Void - Denim Daddy
20. Cellos - Demagogue
21. James OL & The Villains - Late Night Drive
22. What Seas What Shores - Pave the Oceans
23. The Skeggs - Out of My Head
24. King Khan (Feat. Saba Lou & Bella the Bizarre) - Bring Them Home
25. Bella and the Bizarre - In Your Mind
26. The Discarded - Going to the Beach
27. Horse Chops - Ten Speed
28. The Bug Club - War Movies
29. Minor Threat - 12XU
30. Iceage - You’re Nothing
31. Metz - Get Off
32. Rites of Spring - Theme
33. Protomartyr - Devil in His Youth

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the December 7 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1068 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 30th, 2024) (Albums of 2024 Part Two):

1. Bloodshot Bill - Spotted (Diary of the Doom - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2024)
2. The Surfrajettes - Instant Coffee (Easy As Pie - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2024)
3. The Routes - Atmosphere (Surfin' Pleasures - Topsy Turvy Records - 2024)
4. Tandoori Knights - 88 Keys (14 Hits That Don't Quit - Rad Girlfriend Records - 2024)
5. Wine Lips - Six Pack (Super Mega Ultra - Stomp Records - 2024)
6. Hot Garbage - You Snooze You Lose (Precious Dream - Mothland - 2024)
7. Amyl and the Sniffers - Do It Do It (Cartoon Darkness - B2B/Virgin Music Group - 2024)
8. MJ Lenderman - Joker Lips (Manning Fireworks - ANTI- 2024)
9. Mount Eerie - Non-Metaphorical Decolonization (Night Palace - P.W. Elverum & Sun - 2024)
10. Crack Cloud - Lack of Lack (Red Mile - Jagjaguwar - 2024)
11. Kim Deal - Crystal Breath (Nobody Loves You More - 4AD - 2024)
12. Motorists - Phone Booth in the Desert of the Mind (Touched By the Stuff - We Are Time - 2024)
13. Bad Hoo - Hot Dr. Pibbs (A Run-In with Worms - Cool Ranch - 2024)
14. Dog Day - Bordering (A T-Shirt with Writing On It - Fundog - 2024)
15. Dog Day - Wasn’t It Nice (Almost - Fundog - 2024)
16. The Smile - Zero Sum (Cutouts - XL Recordings - 2024)
17. Jon McKiel - Concrete Sea (Hex - You've Changed Records - 2024)
18. Jessica Pratt - Life Is (In the Pitch - Mexican Summer - 2024)
19. Adrienne Lenker - Vampire Empire (Bright Future - 4AD - 2024)
20. Beth Gibbons - Tell Me Who You Are Today (Lives Outgrown - Chamber Pop - 2024)
21. Dion Lunadon - Goodtimes (Memory Burn - Beast Records - 2024)
22. Osees - Pixelated Moon (SORCS 80 - Castle Face Records - 2024)
23. Sunglaciers - Kafka (Regular Nature - Mothland - 2024)
24. Apollo Ghosts - Ripping Invasives (Amethyst - You've Changed Records - 2024)
25. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Chatter (Too Hot To Sleep - You've Changed Records - 2024)
26. Night Court - Captain Caveperson ($hit Machine - Recess Records - 2024)
27. Pypy - Poodle Wig (Sacred Music - Goner Records - 2024)
28. Packs - Missy (Melt the Honey - Fire Talk - 2024)
29. Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice (Funeral for Justice - Matador - 2024)
30. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Sun is a Hole in Vapors (No Title as of 13 February 2024 28340 Dead - Constellation Records - 2024)
31. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Frogs (Wild God - PIAS Recordings - 2024)
32. Cindy Lee - Golden Microphone (Diamond Jubilee - W.25TH - 2024)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 30 file to download/stream the episode. 

Show 1067 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 23rd, 2024)(Albums of 2024 Part One):

1. Cindy Lee - Wild Rose (Diamond Jubilee - W.25TH - 2024)
2. Jack White - What’s the Rumpus (No Name - Third Man Records - 2024)
3. Being Dead - Love Machine (EELS - Bayonet - 2024)
4. Nap Eyes - Ice Grass Underpass (Neon Gate - Paradise of Bachelors - 2024)
5. Brainrust - Band Manager (Indistinct Chatter - 2024)
6. The Scenics - Garthuson (New Part in Tower - Dream Tower Records - 2024)
7. X - Sweet Till the Bitter End (Smoke & Fiction - Fat Possum Records - 2024)
8. Roswit - Dreamer’s Song (Eternal Living - Mono Tapes - 2024)
9. Retail Simps - Knotted Up (Strike Gold, Strike Back, Strike Out - Total Punk Records - 2024)
10. Ducks LTD. - Hollowed Out (Harm's Way - Carpark Records - 2024)
11. Knitting - Amy (Some Kind of Heaven - Mint Records - 2024)
12. Vampire Weekend - Classical (Only God was Above Us - Columbia - 2024)
13. Hurray For the Riff Raff - Buffalo (The Past is Still Alive - Nonesuch - 2024)
14. La Luz - Poppies (News of the Universe - Sub Pop -2024)
15. Ty Segall - My Room (Three Bells - Drag City - 2024)
16. Rick White and The Sadies - Spellbound (Rick White and The Sadies - Blue Fog - 2024)
17. Skinny Dyck - Out of Control (Easygoing - Victory Pool - 2024)
18. The Bobby Tenderloin Universe - Marigold (Satan is a Woman - 2024)
19. The Jesus Lizard - Is That Your Hand? (Rack - Ipecac Recordings - 2024)
20. Kim Gordon - I’m A Man (The Collective - Matador - 2024)
21. Fontaines D.C. - Bug (Romance - XL Recordings - 2024)
22. Shellac - Scabby the Rat (To All Trains - Touch and Going Records - 2024)
23. The Mystery Lights - Mighty Fine & All Mine (Purgatory - Wick Records - 2024)
24. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Wicked World (That Delicious Vice - In the Red Recordings - 2024)
25. Richard Laviolette - I Was Saved By Rock and Roll (All Wild Things Are Shy - You've Changed Records - 2024)
26. Shadow Show - Vertigo (Fantasy Now! - Stolen Body Records - 2024)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 23 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1066 Playlist (Originally Aired On November 17th, 2024) (Feat. Guest Hosts Nick of Radio Drill Time and Kieran Owen):

1. Louder Than Death - Chief Sleeps in the Park
2. The Spits - Electric Brain
3. The Spits - Up All Night
4. Motorhead - The Hammer
5. Visibly Choked - Third Time’s the Charm
6. Roye Trout - Contrition & Disclosure
7. Thin Lizzy - Southbound
8. Sugar - Changes
9. Kim Deal - A Good Time Pushed
10. Teenage Fanclub - Radio
11. Father John Misty - She Cleans Up
12. Mount Eerie - & Sun
13. Robyn Hitchcock - Insect Mother
14. Unrest - Make Out Club
15. Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling 
16. The dbs - Black and White
17. Bad Egg - Breaking the Lease
18. Fifth Column - Hit the Roof
19. The Government - I’m Somebody
20. The Dave Howard Singers - Darren Stevens
21. Deja Voodoo - Big Scary Daddy
22. Roxy Music - All I Want is You
23. Roxy Music - Out of the Blue
24. Spun Out - Paranoia
25. Les Breastfeeders - Vivre et Exister
26. The Mystery Lights - In the Streets
27. The Minutemen - Cut

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the November 17 file to download/stream the episode.