Reminding everyone that they’re still alive, local punks Dayglo Abortions kicked off their cross-Canada Not Dead Yet tour on Friday, May 17 at Phoenix Bar & Grill.
The Dayglos (“A Canadian punk band that uses satire and sarcasm as a weapon,” according to their Facebook page; “Insolence vs. intolerance since 1980.”) have a reputation for controversy that they’ve been spreading for 10 full-length albums. The original line-up, Murray “Cretin” Acton on guitar and vocals, Jesus Bonehead on drums, and Trevor “Spud” Hagen on bass—all juvenile delinquents in their own rights—started a band to keep themselves out of trouble.
“We all decided we had to find something constructive to do with our time or we were all going to end up in jail,” says Acton. “So, we started jamming and stuff… We had this band called The Sick Fucks for maybe a year and a half, two years there in the late ’70s and then started the Dayglos in 1980.”
The name “Dayglo Abortions” is derived from a combination of the most controversial topic of the late ’70s and a prize The Sick Fucks won at a battle of the bands (“A bunch of spray paint,” says Acton). A stroke of good fortune helped the Dayglos get their first album made: a friend offered to pay for the band to make a record, but there was a catch.
“It’s funny because this guy friend of ours inherited some money,” says Acton. “He goes, ‘I’ll pay for you guys to make a record. There’s only one catch, you know, I don’t want it to sell in stores. I don’t want to make a record that they can even put in a store.’ Wow… I’m your man. So, it was actually a conspiracy to manufacture obscene music, which is funny because that’s what they tried to charge us with.”
The charge in question was related to the band’s third album, 1988’s Here Today, Guano Tomorrow. The band was charged with obscene material (the first time in Canada’s history a band faced this charge) but were cleared of charges and won the case in a 1990 Supreme Court trial. But the trials and tribulations the Dayglos have gone through didn’t start or end there.
Acton was a Camosun Electronics student in the band’s early days, and their material wasn’t met with open arms on campus.
“Out at the Interurban campus there… Yeah, that was weird,” says Acton. “When the Dayglos album first came out I was going to Camosun College, and I got attacked by a bunch of militant feminists and their effeminate husbands. It’s pretty funny… They go, ‘There he is!’ They yelled at their husbands, ‘Go get him!’ I had to plow through them with my knapsack full of books and bonk a couple of them over and stuff. It was kind of embarrassing, actually.”
Dayglo Abortions have been the centre of protests, a Supreme Court of Canada case, and played shows that could better be described as riots yet are still going strong decades later. So, what’s the secret to the longevity?
“It’s fun. It’s something that is real,” says Acton. “The guys that I play with are… they’re my best friends. [Drummer] Blind Marc and [guitarist] Matt [Fiorito] are literally my best friends. So, we got something that we do. We don’t just sit around and do nothing; we’re constructive. We have fun. Oh, and wreck people’s weekends for them and stuff like that. We’re not going to change the world, but we can change your night, that’s for sure.”