I recall a friend of mine who spent some time in Siena, Italy, who witnessed a yearly Medieval-themed tournament, where different sections of the City competed for glory, each district bearing their own distinct banner.
Well here we are in the semi-modern, post-fab punk-rock world (No Borgia's!, No Savonarola's), and the real purpose of this post is to extol two lesser known punk-pop groups who deserve more recognition. But the banners that these worthies fly are 70's American TV icons, the people we venerate today, the precursors of today's reality divas. One band is from the European Union, more precisely, the Netherlands, the other from the Heartland of our neighbor to the North, Canada, more precisely Winnipeg.
Travoltas vs Bonaduces.
Will Proud Canada win a shootout in overtime? Or will they pass the Dutchie? Will resolute Dutch Courage triumph, or am I merely tilting at windmills? There is no clear cut favorite here. And no burning of flags or banners here either.
Travoltas:
The Travoltas are a Punk-Pop band from Tilburg, Netherlands. As has been stated and cut and pasted many times over, they combine the 60's Pop stylings of the Beach Boys with the hard and fast Ramones sound. Other comparisons can be made to Weezer, and to Vancouver's Zumpano, at least as to the vocals and harmonies in spots. I must say that Teenbeat (which was released in 2000) sounds fantastic! They do what they do as good as any of the better known American acts who garnered serious cash. Radio ready punk-pop. If you heard this on someone's playlist, you'd probably ask "who the hell are these guys"? There is a timeless quality to their music.
Perry: Lead vocals
Vincent: Guitar, Synths
Eric: Bass and backing vocals
JD: Guitar and backing vocals
Wooter: Drums
Bonaduces:
The Bonaduces are a Punk-Pop band from Winnipeg, Canada. The Democracy of Sleep is a remarkable album also. Their music possesses some of the attributes found in the Travoltas, but either by osmosis or design there is a lot of heartland Minnesota punk influences, like the Replacements, Huskers, early era Soul Asylum or even Montreal's shoulda been contenders The Nils. Yeah, and maybe some Buzzcocks thrown in. They sound a tad scruffier than their Dutch counterparts, but in terms of lyrical poetry and musical inventiveness they really stand out. They are more of heart on sleeve, emoesque group--the songs seem really personal. The tunes by The Travoltas are great but I have to say that I'm not all that concerned with what they are singing about. The Bonaduces sound is itchier, intense, with a lot more originality.
Doug McLean: vocals, guitar
Michael Koop: Guitar, background vocals
Bob Somers: bass and background vocals
Chris Hiebert: drums
Yeah, I know this post is silly, but its just another way to talk about two albums I like very much.
If you've seen this blogpost before, you know that I like to write about what I think is the good stuff. And it's a win-win situation with these two groups. I say that if there has to be a winner, its the Bonaduces, because the album is more of a unique animal, idiosyncratic. Teenbeat by the Travoltas on the other hand may actually be a perfect Pop-Punk album. The sound, the songs, are superb, almost flawless. But they don't have the rough edges, the personal touch that would single themselves out. A great pop album that doesn't sound that dissimilar from a lot of other groups.
But you know what, that's merely my personal taste, and I would not be surprised if a lot of people disagreed with me. If you are a power pop fanatic, the sort of person who thinks that the Posies sold out after their early albums, you would definitely prefer Travoltas. As for me, I'm probably going to be getting more music by both bands. It's a long shot, but I'm going to try to get a physical copy of The Bonaduces K is for Catherine which won't require me to take out a mortgage. And find out what these guys have been doing for the last 10 years. They are a pretty amazing group. I have to believe this is one of the great 90's alternative albums that most people haven't heard.
I probably would have never found out about them except for a terrific blog spot, Music Ruined My Life. I've found out about some great Canadian bands from that site--one of the best music blogs out there. I do think that America is still snobbish about Canada and its culture. I think a lot of American don't believe it exists, you know Canadian culture. I recently read a book of essays (actually more like speeches) by the great Canadian writer, Robertson Davies, where he refers to some writer who referred to Canada as "America's attic". Wow! How subconsciously offensive is that!
These days music fans all know about Arcade Fire, Metric, New Pornographers, perhaps Sloan. When I was a kid, I think we were all strangely shocked when we discovered that Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Band, Guess Who, BTO, were Canadian. But I think for years a lot of Americans have missed out on some excellent music being made due North. These days we seem to finally be breaching a cultural wall, one that has resisted globalization. I listen to the Bonaduces and I feel deprived, in a similar way as when I heard the Nils and Pointed Sticks for the first time, long after the bands broke up. I feel I still have a lot of catching up to do. I've just read two commendable books about Canadian music history, recently published, that I'll hopefully chat about soon.
And there is a similar feeling toward European bands--unless its American or English, how good could it be? The real answer is very, very good!
But you discover if you dig enough, great bands in Scandanavia and Germany. And of course, the Dutch have Travoltas, Johan, The Nits, The Ex, Bettie Serveert, The Serenes, to name a few. Even France has great bands, despite the stupid caricatures. Bands like the Dogs, and Les Thugs, and even Plastic Bertrand made some fun music. And if you can overcome people singing in other than your own language, well the whole world is your musical oyster. Zimababwe, Brazil, Russia, Phillipines, Japan. Just when I think I've heard it all, I get blown away once more, unexpectedly.
