The Weapons of Mass Seduction

The Weapons of Mass Seduction were formed in Ottawa late in 2002 shortly after the dissolution of Jake Heartbreak’s previous combo The Red Hots. As a vehicle for his new songs that owe as much to Billy Childish as to Bo Diddley, Jake recruited a couple of friends to make it all happen. The Duke would provide a fire-breathing lead guitar counterpart to Jake's cool rhythms, and Bill “Baumschell” Guerrero would supply the beat. Though neither the Duke nor Bill had actually played in a straight-up rock and roll band previous to this, the three were able to find their groove quickly on account of a mutual interest in blues based music of all kinds and keeping it simple. A bit of artful theft never hurt either – in the course of a Weapons of Mass Seduction set, you may happen upon riffs and beats that echo in your memory of songs by Thee Headcoats, Bo Diddley, The Kinks, Deja Voodoo, The Sonics, Link Wray, The Ramones, the Masonics (frankly, pretty much anyone from the Medway area), the Beach Boys, BBQ, Les Sexareenos, DOA, among others. This is not theft, but simply the acknowledgement of some of the greats that have come before them.

If one were to ask, a favourite maxim of the band would read: Sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes the bar, well, it eats you.

The Weapons have shared the stage with some great bands, both local and from further afield, such as the Bellrays, the Black Keys, Nathaniel Mayer, The Sights, the Double Pumpers, the Glads, Moral Hazard, the Sweet Janes, BBQ, Mystery Girls, CPC Gangbangs, Brutal Knights, the Golden Famile, and the Reverend Glasseye, to name a few.

Jake Heartbreak currently also plays bass in the psych-garage trio Four n Giv’r, and guitar in the soulful beat rock combo the Solid Senders. The Duke trades off leads in the Ottawa hardcore punk group Four-Stroke and also plays bass in Yukon Gold, a noisy VU inflected trio with Bill Guerrero providing guitar and vocals. Bill also plays drums in the Expatriates and St. Bernard of Love.

A Timeline:

Nov. 2002 - First practice in Bill's kitchen. 2 songs are learned. Bass player has doubts.

Dec. 2002 - Last practice in Bill's kitchen due to hateful vibes from downstairs neighbours. Bass player gives up. The remaining 3 members vow to soldier on.

March 2003 - A more suitable practice space found through a man called Yogi (www.thespace.ca). Songs start happening due to fits of unemployment and boredom.

July 1, 2003 - The Weapons, as they will be referred to amongst locals, debut in the living room of the former bass player, who is also incidentally a member of the Expatriates, and the Duke's younger brother. Though it is too damn hot for those in attendance to withstand the combined fury of their sound and the Ottawa heat-wave, most agree that the band sounded great. Most also agree that all parties present were pretty plowed at the time.

Summer 2003 - All kinds of performance opportunities happen. It seems that nearly every single rock and roll promoter in Ottawa went on vacation that summer, leaving the venues to cope with a near state of anarchy. Subsequently, the Weapons find themselves able to weasel their way into a number of early gigs, some of which even paid for cab fare!

January 2004- First recording session with Yogi for "Thank You For Your Daughters". Also the only recording session needed, as it turned out. 3 songs are dropped, with one strangely popping up as a request in live sets, much to the chagrin of the band.

October 2004-"Thank You For Your Daughters" drops. Jake drops his guitar during the album launch. The album rises on local radio charts.

February 2005 - Another recording session. Experimental techniques prove to fluster the band. February blahs don't help much, either. Nothing is released, yet. At least two songs are left in the dust.

November 2005- The forthcoming 18-song "Desperate Men and the Women Who Love Them" is recorded simply and quickly with help of Michael D. Wieland, incidentally the other bass player in the Expatriates.

December 2005- The Weapons play one last show (the Birdman Sound Annual Festive Party) before vowing to take a break for a good while.

April 2006- A decision is made to form Seductive Sounds as a means of putting out future records, like the next Weapons album.