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.