Vancouver punk: Then and now

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An Evening with Art Bergmann

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When: Sept. 29, 7 p.m.

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Where: Rickshaw Theatre, 254 E. Hastings St., Vancouver

Tickets and info: From $25 at rickshawtheatre.com or Red Cat Records

Art Bergmann doesn’t mince words on how he feels about past projects.

On a call to discuss the recent compilation Can’t Come Back that collects recordings by “underground supergroup” Los Popularos, he offers up the following analysis:

“A band I don’t care about that didn’t succeed,” he said. “The only thing that matters from the experience was the long-term friendships that came out of it. My past three albums are some of the best work of my career, let’s talk about those instead.”

Originally formed as a “f–k band” for members of the nascent punk rock scene to have fun in, Los Radicos Popularos included Bergmann from Young Canadians, Active Dog singer Bill Shirt, Pointed Sticks members Gord Nicholl and Tony Bardach, drummer Zippy Pinhead and, for a time, The Modernettes’ John Armstrong, a.k.a. Buck Cherry.

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Active from 1980 to 1983, the players all came to the project from bands that were defunct or on their way to being so. All the members had known each other for ages, many since secondary school.

The group dropped the Radicos from the name to become Los Popularos during its short run.

Armstrong would eventually depart the group to reform the Modernettes and record the band’s sophomore EP, titled View From the Bottom. He is decidedly more diplomatic about the reissues of both his work and the Los Popularos by California-based Porterhouse Records.

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“Los Popularos began as a reason to get together, write songs and drink” said Armstrong. “When we reached a point where we had enough songs that we could play a set, we figured, ‘Why not?’ All of our own bands had eaten up every penny we’d made as the whole machine of new pictures, paying the sound guy, lighting guy, guitar tech, etc. came into play. My mother used to do my taxes and joked that the more successful I became, the less money I made, and if I kept at it I would have to go bankrupt.”

Quintessence Records, the indie label that released so many early Vancouver scene records did fold, taking many recordings along with it.

What amazes Armstrong is that, 40 years on, anyone is interested in hearing any of the recent spate of reissues/compilations of out-of-print material.

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“Now all of the Modernettes’ and Los Popularos’ material is out on quality vinyl with cleaned-up audio, which is great,” he said. “You are hearing what those dirt-cheap budget sessions were aiming for. Los Popularos had a lot of talent and all kinds of different songwriting partnerships in the group, but we ruined it by turning it into a real band and bringing in all of the crap that comes with that kind of business.”

Steve Kravac runs Porterhouse Records and was around when Los Popularos was playing. Having produced albums for bands ranging from the Asexuals to Less Than Jake, the Los Angeles-based music exec has also compiled the Young Canadians, Bergmann’s first group to gain wide recognition.

“I was going to see these bands reform and had started a band of my own that recorded at Profile Studios at the time, so this is my high school soundtrack,” said Kravac. “Mining that for things that have fallen through the cracks and haven’t seen quality vinyl release for 30-plus years is important to me. That’s what led me to that first great Young Canadians record with Hawaii on it and other chapters of Vancouver history that were written over and forgotten about.”

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With in-depth liner notes that tell the band’s story as well as collecting everything from rare photos to gig posters, Porterhouse Records is developing a sizeable catalogue. Armstrong is pleased to get the music out there again. Bergmann thinks it’s just another case of the music industry trying to “pick the bones of the dead and defunct for money.”

It’s an opinion of his chosen line of business that is revisited time and again in the pages of The Longest Suicide: The Authorized Biography of Art Bergmann. Written by Jason Schneider and published by Anvil Press, the book captures the early days of the West Coast punk scene and highlights of Bergmann’s long solo career leading up to the singer being named to the Order of Canada. What it doesn’t do, according to the subject, is analyze any of his lyrics or give enough time to his career upswing since 2016’s The Apostate.

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“As soon as I’m finished with the promotion cycle for ShadowWalk, the next project would be collecting the lyrics, because I pride myself on my words,” said Bergmann. “But now, I need to take my broken shell of a body across the country again to support this album.”

ShadowWalk, alternately billed as ShadowWalk: Legacy of Love, pays tribute to Bergmann’s late wife Sherri Decemberini, who died in March 2022. The couple had been together for 31 years, living in Alberta. Since her death, Bergmann has returned to the Lower Mainland and is diving into music again.

The dozen tunes range from the rocking Raw Naked Monday to the tabla-fuelled folk of Candlelight. The music captures both the profound grief of loss and a sage reading on how life goes on. The sparse, taut arrangements all wrap around his signature gritty vocals.

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Both ShadowWalk and the Longest Suicide are launching at the An Evening With Art Bergmann at the Rickshaw. The night boasts a killer backing band of A-list locals.

“I have brothers Adam and Steven Drake on drums and guitar, Bradley Ferguson of Hunting on bass, Dave Genn of 54-40 on keys and Aidan Farrell and Leo Johnson on vocals,” said Bergmann. “It’s billed as An Evening With Art Bergmann, so maybe there will be some surprises.”

Just don’t go expecting to hear any songs by Los Popularos in the set. Bergmann says he’ll leave those tunes and others from his legacy to be covered by others on a future project. Talk of a tribute album of other artists covering his work has long been in the works.

He looks forward to “Blue Rodeo doing one of my songs and it going on to sell millions.”

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sderdeyn@postmedia.com 

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