The Remedials

Absolute Underground Vol.5 - 1 Issue 25 – December/January 2009

The Remedials – Drop Outta School
Remedials Records

The Remedials strike a really nice balance on their second disc. Half the songs have a really catchy pop-punk feel to them, reminiscent of Screeching Weasel, and the other half have ruder, more in-your-face lyrical content, yet still poppy. These songs "Bloody Snot," and "Date Rape" have a more Guttermouth/Queers fell to them. Vocal duties are divided between guitarist Gabe on the former songs, and bassist Wayne on the latter tunes. This second outing by The Remedials is just as polished, well played, and well produced as their first. Once again the great Mr. Jesse Gander at the Hive has been behind the wheel while these boys played the music, and once again he helps them create a neat, tight piece of work. This CD has something for everyone who is a fan of quick, catchy punk rock.

-Chuck Wurley

© Absolute Underground 2008
http://absoluteunderground.ca - Chuck Wurley (Absolute Underground)

The Skinny Magazine Issue 18 Vol. 1 Dec 16' 08 – Jan 6' 09

Raised By Apes, Cambridge, Slush, and The Remedials

After pouring rain all day, the clouds parted, and made way for an unstoppable evening of punk rock. It was the Canadian release show for the Punk Rock Concoction Vol. 3 compilation CD, which features both Raised By Apes and Cambridge as the lone Canadian bands on the disc. There was a free copy for everyone in the bar, and who doesn't like party favors? As always the sound at The Cobalt was good no matter where you stood, and all the bands brought a festive cheer that would have even had Ebeneezer Scrooge downing some rum and eggnogs.

With feet planted firmly on stage the evening began with The Remedials shooting through their two minute punk blasts in the vein of a Ramonesesque, or Screeching Weasely sound. They are a three piece from Vancouver that hasn't played a show in quite a while, so it was great to see them grace the stage again The Remedials featured trade up lead vocals that kept things interesting because of the different singing styles the bassist and guitarist displayed. Even the drummer got involved on the singing front at times, but he mainly stuck to rocking out with a slightly spastic style I was digging. They featured simple lyrics for simple minds, which made it quite suiting when they covered a Diesel Queens song with the lyrics; "I like to drink, I like to fuck, I like to fuckn' drink!" Those are lyrics I can get behind.

© The Skinny Magazine 2008
http://theskinnymag.info - Denis Maile (The Skinny Magazine)

Ronatron December 31st 2008

The Remedials at The Cobalt

No matter how old you get, and no matter how old you think you are, there will always be a first for everything. Some could be great experiences, like your first concert, or some could be horrible, like your first relationship (depending on how you look at it…). That was my exact thought when The Remedials asked me to come out to The Cobalt to watch them play. I've never been to The Cobalt before and for those of you who don't know, The Cobalt is one of Vancouver's premiere underground venues. And when I say underground, I don't mean folk music. It's mainly hardcore-punk and metal. The closest I've ever come to punk was the Van's Warped Tour back in the 90's, so it's been a while, but in retrospect, I did have a good time at those summer festivals.

First things first, I did enjoy myself and I don't know why I was so nervous in the first place. I guess it's safe to say that this experience was like my first kiss, sloppy but very pleasing. I got there a little early and got a chance to talk to some of the guys in the band, who were both very nice and gracious. We had a normal conversation about music, friends, and the whole works. Afterwards, when Alex finished editing all the pictures, he realized he knew the band. Turns out they all went to the same high school back in the day. Small world isn't it! As a matter of fact, from what Alex recalls all of them played in several different bands.

In 2004, Gabriel Gill (Guitar/Vocals), Wayne Degerness (Bass/Vocals) and Lionel Cloutier (Drums/Vocals) decided to form a three-piece punk band called The Remedials. Their dedication to their work spawned two studio albums, two live albums, a DVD, songs on several punk compilations, along with radio and podcast airplay. All of these accomplishments weren't unnoticed by others as they now have a solid following and fan base.

As soon as they started there set, I couldn't help but notice how loud their music was. Like I said before, it's been a while since I've been to a punk show so I had to adjust my ears so they wouldn't bleed (They might have cranked up the volume meter to 11…and for those of you who don't know, that was a Spinal Tap reference). Along with the heavy sounds, they also had the punk rock mentality with the power stance and fast paced head banging. They sound an awfully lot like Rancid, NOFX, and The Ramones, three of my all time favourite punk bands, so it was no surprise that they were all about the music. There were absolutely no breaks in between songs, except for a few beer swigs (and when I say a few, I mean a lot), and the bass lines were not only melodic, but very technical. All three of them laid their voices down on different songs, so it created a nice balance that kept each track interesting.

Their loud, punk-rock attitude transcended onto an eclectic crowd. There were aging punk rockers, young hipsters, as well as some pretty girls at the show, so I guess music has no boundaries when it comes to defining what punk rock is. However, a punk show wouldn't be a punk show without a mosh pit. Even though it was a small venue, it didn't stop three courageous (drunken…) men from kicking and flailing their arms to the sounds pumping throughout the speakers. At one point, one of these inebriated young chaps fell over. It goes without saying he was a little pissed, but I, however, found it quite amusing and quickly jotted it down in my notepad. I don't know what it is about our society, but people seem to always laugh at other's misfortunes, take America's Funniest Home Videos for example. There is always at least one video of someone nutting themselves, and you don't know why, but the laughter is just too overwhelming and eventually tears start forming. OK I may have gotten a little sidetracked, so we shall get back to the music.

Most of their songs have quite a bit of profanity, something my mother would have disliked but something my teenage self would have admired. One song caught my attention above all others. It wasn't the catchy bass line, it wasn't the hard hitting snare drum, nor was it the fast paced power chords. It was the lyrics. It was all about drinking and it goes a little something like this, "I like to drink/ I like to f*ck/ I like to f*ckin' drink." It's simple, but effective. I think they just captured what everyone loves into one simple song. They ended the night on a short but sweet note with their song "12345." They essentially just counted to five and then thanked the crowd for coming out. What surprised me at the end was that they not only thanked the crowd for coming out, but the press as well! I've never been thanked for coming out to a show before, so it was nice to hear that praise amplified over the entire venue.

For more information on The Remedials, feel free to visit their myspace as well as their website. If you love punk rock, then you'll absolutely love these guys.

© Ronatron 2008
http://www.ronatron.net - Ron Cheng (Ronatron)

The Skinny Magazine Issue 25 Vol. 2 Apr 21' 09 - May 5' 09

On the first Friday of every month Pat’s Pub hosts a ska tinged show called Hellcats And Bulldogs. I decided it was high time I checked out what all the fuss was about, not to mention I was looking forward to checking out some Hellcats. Can’t say I care much for Bulldogs though.

Without a ska bone in their body, The Remedials opened the show. It was nice to see that the skahead running the night doesn’t discriminate against booking the straight up punk bands, practicing what they preach. Unity. And unity is what it was. The show going punks united with the miserable old people playing keno to enjoy The Remedials. It was possible that they were actually united in beer drinking, but the old folk didn’t run for the door when the music started up, so they either approved of The Remedials, or they really loved the Keno.

The Remedials are now in full swing with newish bassist Dan Gillis and he has even conformed to the tight-pants wide-stance that The Remedials (along with many other punk bands) are known for. The trade-up vocals are coming together nicely with Dan singing the harder songs, and Gabe the not so harder ones. At one point Gabe sang; “I want to live in a haunted house” which led me to believe that he doesn’t value sleep. This may be true because they took off after their set to go and headline the bill at Pub 340. A short trip down Hastings, why not? Maybe after Pat’s I’d see if I could catch the end of it.

Next Fuzzcat hit the stage and this was what I assumed the night was going to be more like. They were four regular looking dudes, playing a tight brand of upbeat groovy ska, and having a lot of fun in the process. How could you stand still? How could you not be smiling? If you were old and playing Keno, that’s how. Fuzzcat had some great chanting back up vocals that filled the room nicely, and spurred more than a few sporadic dance pits in random corners of the bar. They ended on a great rendition of the Dead Kennedy’s ‘Holiday in Cambodia,’ that had the Fuzzcat sound stamped all over it.

Then UPTOwN RiOT took the stage, and sounded exactly what you’d think a band called Uptown Riot should sound like. This was solid drinking partying music that made me crave summer and a backyard BBQ, especially during their punk rock anthem, ‘Drinking Song.’ You couldn’t help but find the bottom of your beer bottle really fast while these guys ripped it up. Uptown Riot had the tendency to break out into some really cool ska parts that shone through during their already badass punk rock sound. It was kind of crusty, kind of dirty and the vocals had that pack a day, living in the gutter kind of rasp to them. Vocalist/Guitarist Paymon’s sunglasses only had one lense, but I’m sure it was so he could keep one eye on the crowd. They got rowdy from the first note of the first song, and kept up the pace alongside the band the whole way through. If punk were built on a foundation of three things, it’d be fast, rowdy and drunk. Uptown Riot scored big points in all of these categories and I would highly recommend catching one of their shows even if you’re slow, well behaved and not drunk.

Then after they kicked us out of the bar we traveled by foot down Hastings to Pub 340 and caught the last three notes of The Remedials’ second set of the night. Then we proceeded to drink until they kicked us out of that bar as well.

© The Skinny Magazine 2009
http://theskinnymag.info - Denis Maile (The Skinny Magazine)