The story behind Generation Gap
Paul Block of Render Useless (photo: Jay Siska).
Back in the year 2000, Greg Pratt and I (Jason Schreurs) decided that we wanted to document the all-ages punk/hardcore scene in Victoria, BC between 1990-2000 by compiling all of the DIY bands, zines, record labels of that decade into a “book.”
We worked on gathering as much info as we could over the next few months, by going through our Victoria music collections, borrowing demo tapes and other releases off people we knew in the scene, and interviewing as many key players as we could.
We did this, painstakingly, for the better part of a year, then abruptly decided to scrap the project. Overwhelmed by the amount of information we received, we felt that the project could never be finished.
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a folder on my computer called “Victoria book,” opened it up, and memories came flooding back of amazing bands like Render Useless, Goat Boy, M Blanket, Gus, Republic of Freedom Fighters, Hudson Mack, and so many more.
I realized, albeit almost 15 years after the fact (ha ha, these realizations come slowly sometimes), that maybe this project didn’t need to be “finished” after all in order for us to share it. I figured I could upload everything to this blog and people could contact me if they had anything to add or correct, with the hopes that maybe, some day, we’d have a proper documentation of one of the most important decades in Victoria’s punk/hardcore scene.
Please contact me if you can make Generation Gap more complete (i.e. “close the gap.”).
Let me know if you have:
-Photos
-Links online to more info (other blog postings, YouTube links, etc.)
-Missing bands, zines, labels, releases, people’s names
-Corrections
-Anything that can help to fill in the many ??s you’ll see throughout the listings
And if you don’t have anything to add, just enjoy scrolling through this alphabetical guide, laugh at some of the great band names (Exploding Nimoy, Kissinger: 666, Darth Brooks, etc.), and hit up a YouTube link or links to some of the great Victoria punk releases. And don’t forget to crank the Group Therapy Explosion compilation at some point. (Thanks to people like Griphin/Phil at the Victoria Demo Restoration Project, and other likeminded blogs, for keeping the spirit alive!)
NOTE – The info in Generation Gap was compiled and provided by a number of people, so if anything in here is incorrect or off-base, just let me know and I’ll make an adjustment or correction.
Peace!
Jason Schreurs
G e n e r a t i o n G a p 
Hello.
My name is lettuce.
I didnt play drums in Drone. I played bass.
Just sayin. Also the demo was recorded late 94
Not 95. But close. Haha
Anyway. Just found your page thing.
Pretty neat.
Glad you found it useful, Adam!
Thank you so much for this excellent resource on the Victoria scene. Great memories.
I just wanted to thank you two for putting all this together. I went to so many shows in the 90’s and it totally changed my life. Such amazing creativity in this scene, it is really cool to be able to go back and listen to some of those bands again. Thank you so much!!!
Great compilation, thanks for this! The nostalgia factor is mind-blowing – I’m actually the fifteen year old kid looking at her shoes to the left of the mic in Jay’s photo (ha).
I can fill in a couple of last names. Luke from Black Kronstadt’s last name is Taylor; Geordie from Excommunicated’s is Pickard; and my friend Danny Hourigan of (fucking) Metchosin fame’s last name is Hourigan (also Black Kronstadt).
So sad to hear of John London’s passing. I considered him a friend 20 years ago. RIP.
Also have some old show posters etc. from the mid 90s… I’ll dig ’em up.
Got some names to flesh out Manifest. Founding members: Nick Engwer, Steve Martin, Steve(Hank) ? ….When Hank left to join the military( I think) Micah joined.
I’ve set up a wire bastard Facebook page. We are working on collecting all the songs from our recording. Somewhere out there are the monkey juice tapes but none of us seen to have them anymore.
This is awesome, I lived in Victoria from 1994-1996, many punk memories!! Many life long friends!!
LOTS of fun info here. Good work,
i got a digital copy of the ninth hour album. ill zip it up and email it to someone, just give me an address
Hey Matt, I’ll leave Drinko Bingo out because it wasn’t all-ages, but thanks for mentioning that. Brings back good memories, and awesome that it’s you in that photo!
Thank you for this Jason & Greg – celebrating this time of friends, music and movements is much appreciated. There are so many stories, people, music, rallies, riots, parties, sessions, tours, road trips, gigs, trips and just fun to document. Look forward to watching this grow….
Hi Mercedes!!!!!!!
Hello,
This is an amazing resource for nostalgia!
From memory all I can think of that you may wish to add is Drinko Bingo, which took place at Logan’s (quite possibly before it was Logan’s… Thursdays… maybe?) weekly and was run by Todd (if memory serves). Silly music and prizes and the crowd was mostly comprised of local scene folk.
There was a CD (EP length?), which was used as a prize (I believe) and the music was a kind of silly lounge music to accompany the bingo.
I don’t live in Victoria anymore, but I’m certain there is a variety of posters and whatnot from the era in my parent’s basement. Let me know if you are interested and the next time I’m in town, I’ll be happy to donate whatever is there to your project.
Cheers,
ps. that’s me with the ‘hawk in the RU pic. Hilarious.
Nod… always willing to help. But while I remember, who has the Red Tide – Final Solution demo (or the first Jerk Ward demo) I could get a copy of?!? I’m probably doing something interesting with VDRP in the new year, stay tooned!!!
The Trousers drummer was Jeremy Foster. Jeremy replaced Trena Canham, who was the Fig 4 drummer. Thanks.
Hey Darryl, Thanks! I’ll add whatever people send. Looking forward to your info. Email it to jasonschreurs@telus.net
Thanks Jason for your efforts. I have info on AK, The Defektors, Pressure Cooker and Soul Charge for you. Are you going to be adding video links?
Sure Trena, would love to include some of those pics! jasonschreurs@telus.net
Hi Jason, I was in Fig .4 and I have some great shots of many bands and are you interested in any pics of the bands that used to come to town often,Green Day, NOFX,Lagwagon etc…? Thanks,Trena
Great! Mystery solved, we were wondering who took it! I’ll put a photo credit in for you. Yeah, a better version would be rad, as would any other photos you have. Thanks!
The photo of Paul Block/Render Useless is one I shot. No problem with you using it. I’ll see if I can find the original and get a better quality copy to you. I’ll also see if I can find a bunch of other photos of AK47, Render, and others while I’m at it. Nice work on this project!
Thanks to everyone who has helped with updates and corrections. Keep them coming!
Hey Neil, send me info on the recordings you did, what name you did them under, etc. and I’ll add in a listing (memory is foggy on this one).
I’d be happy to list Ninth Hour if someone could send me as much info as possible about them, members, releases, etc. Thanks!
Ninth hour should be included as they were quite a staple of gigs here for a few years and I believe at least one member has lived here since. Regardless I’m pretty stoked someone is doing this! I know I have a box somewhere with gig posters, song lists, etc that I should dig up and scan! I gotta go find my Splatter Boys tape now….
So rad. Hmmm. Somewhere in a box I still have the original 4-track masters from some of the bands I recorded. Fuck You I’m Stealing Home, Norman Bates Valentine… May have to do some digging.
love that this exists
Special thanks to Griphin (Phil Cavanagh) and Luke Burgess for all of their help on the first round of updates. If anyone has any info to add or correct, please let me know!
Hey Pamela, we only compiled bands from the Greater Victoria area, just to try and keep the focus narrow (we were facing a seemingly incomprehensible amount of info when we started). Now that this is all documented, I’d be interested in expanding to Duncan, Nanaimo, etc. as long as people out there could provide me with the info in the same format as the site. So feel free to send any info you have! My days of pouring over dusty demo tapes are done, I’m afraid. Cheers!
Jason, is this blog only for bands born and bred in Victoria? Because bands like Ninth Hour and Ultra Vires were part of this scene and did most of their recording in Vic even though most of the members lived in Nanaimo.