Crystal Pistol back in 2007.
In the early 2000’s I was living in Los Angeles working on my debut album for major label, Dreamworks records. I had been signed shortly after basing myself out of L.A. and one of the catalysts for that was undoubtedly, KROQ which had played my demo, this quickly helped the growing buzz surrounding my band Soul Kid #1 and by the time of my seventh show, I had contract offers from Interscope, Warner Brothers and Dreamworks. Before 2005, Radio was still a powerful medium and it played a huge part in influencing the music industry. Going back to the days of Elvis Presley, who started on a small independent (Sun Records) and found his first support locally on regional radio before moving on to larger things. This model had remained in place for years and because of it, overnight, I went from recording in my living room to recording at Ocean Way!
One day at the studio my Dreamworks A & R man, asked me if I’d heard of a band called “Crystal Pistol” who came from my hometown, Vancouver. The A & R mentioned that the label was thinking of checking them out! Crystal Pistol of course, were a local super group made up of MIK IRELAND (vocals), PINTO (lead guitar), BRIAN BRESSET (guitar and back up vocals), DAVID TROUTMAN (drums) and GREG LAIKIN (bass and back up vocals). And now that I look back, It was quite a feat for them to generate enough noise based out of Vancouver to attract the attention of a American major label!! For a Canadian band to even get on the radar of the US music biz, is a huge accomplishment. Crystal Pistol must have been doing something right! But realistically, they faced some hurdles, A & R guys are lazy and tend to invest their money close to home. The music industry gravy train usually ended in Seattle and traditionally nobody was too interested in journeying the extra couple miles across the border in search of talent to exploit… unless of course the band was blowing up with a regional hit, and that could only happen with airplay! One particularly significant obstacle stood in the way of that. My hometown region was controlled by the un-hip, backwards, corporate CFOX which in turn was dominated by the small conservative crooked clique that made up the Canadian Music industry. Unlike KROQ in L.A. which actively sought out new music and constantly broke new bands, CFOX did the opposite and had a long history of blocking out new music. The station functioned for the benefit of just a small handful of powerful players most notably, Bruce Allen. Music journalist, Tom Harrison explains that by the early 80’s, “Bruce Allen and Sam Feldman ran Bruce Allen Talent Promotions, which managed BTO and Bryan Adams and Prism.Those bands became a symbol of the music establishment – the whole mainstream thing, Bruce became a major figure of opposition. Sam Feldman, his partner branched off into the booking agency and between them they had a lock on all the clubs in Vancouver and the radio stations – two AM stations that played top 30, CKLG and CFUN and the FM stations CFOX and CFMI. When punk thing started happening there was no way they were going to let that stuff on the air or in the clubs.” Canadian Radio acted more like Hadrian’s wall, built to keep the barbarians out!
Bruce Allen standing guard of his empire.
I’m not sure how much my Dreamworks A & R guys actually did in following up on “checking out” Crystal Pistol. I however, did make that journey home a couple times and got to see Crystal Pistol in all their glory. I remember one sold out Vancouver show where Mik Ireland announced his arrival by emptying a full pitcher of beer onto his own head before launching into the first song. It was sleazy Guns & Roses era rock n’ roll with an undercurrent of Vancouver punk nihilism. They were your perfect “I don’t give a fuck” party band glorifying bad lifestyle choices and playing the rock n’ roll they wanted to play whether anyone liked it or not. Crystal Pistol’s song “Rock Star” is actually quite poignant and the refrain “Everybody hates you when you love Rock N’ Roll!” should resonate with anyone who has ever attempted to make music in Canada. It’s a dead end, but you do it anyway despite all the forces at work against you.
Lead singer, Mik Ireland.
Pistol on tour!
Mik with fans.
The truth is that CFOX hates you if you love rock n’ roll! It’s laughable that the station’s motto was “the Fox Rocks!”, when all they’ve ever done is come up with creative ways to collect payola and keep their audience blissfully unaware of any actual rocking going on! The only time that the Ramones got on CFOX was when they announced the band members deaths! Compare CFOX’s top 100 to KROQ’s top 100 both from 1982. You’ll notice that CFOX has 4 acts near the top that Bruce Allen had a stake in (Loverboy, The Headpins, Streetheart and aptly named, Payolas) It’s also made up of archaic 70’s corporate rock with Asia at number 2 and The Clash at the very bottom of the list. KROQ has The Clash on the top of their playlist. It includes Adam Ant and X, KROQ’s playlist is relevant and reflects the actual musical landscape of 1982! It’s downright heroic in comparison!
Today, CFOX no longer has a monopoly on music and thanks to the internet, nobody needs to listen to them playing mediocre “modern” rock, Bryan Adams or Nickelback ad nauseam. But the damage was done, and thanks to the stranglehold Canadian Radio had over our music, we’re now known as the country that produced the shittiest rock stars! We gave the world, the Barenaked Ladies, Chilliwack, and Our Lady Peace! Despite it all, since Crystal Pistol’s debut they’ve racked up over 100 000 plays for their videos on youtube and satisfyingly seen their legacy grow. At their height, Crystal Pistol shows were rambunctious, wild, unpredictable rock n’ roll fun! Now they’re back to play a rare reunion show at the Rickshaw Theatre on Valentines Day! It’s the closest thing to a rock n’ roll circus that Vancouver has seen in a long time, with the outrageous gorelesque of BLOODY BETTY and NEIL E. DEE’s DANGER THRILL SHOW performing stunts. Musical guests backing them up are gothic punks NIM VIND, As well as un-radio friendly rockers STARBOYS, GLORYWHORE, THE TOXICS & SMASH ALLEY! On Saturday Feb.14th, you have a chance to come out and celebrate the music that CFOX didn’t want you to know about! It’s going to be a night for everybody who actually love rock n’ roll!
Marc Godfrey
Neil E. Dee’s Danger Thrill Show!
BLOODY BETTY!
Valentines Day.
SECRET AGENT RECORDS MAGAZINE 