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Fifth Column (band)
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Fifth Column (band)
Fifth Column was a Canadian all-female post-punk band from Toronto, which formed in 1980 and broke up in 1995.
The band began as a trio named Second Unit, with GB Jones on drums, Kathleen Pirrie Adams on bass, and Janet Martin on guitar. Caroline Azar saw this group play in the fall of 1980, and shortly after successfully auditioned as singer, and this lineup played their first gig as Fifth Column in late 1980.
The band took the name Fifth Column from their interpretation of an alleged military manoeuvre by fascist Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War, in which Nazi-aligned nationalist insurrectionists within besieged Republican Madrid, called the Fifth column, aided the four columns (north, south, east and west) outside the city's perimeters.
Soon after forming, the group became involved in the Cassette culture of the 1980s. Their first release was a selection of songs on the cassette compilation Urban Scorch released by Some Product in 1981. GB Jones, Caroline Azar and Candy Parker released an underground xerox art/social commentary zine named Hide, of which they published five issues. After its first issue, they came out with audio cassettes that were compilations of music by their punk, post-punk and experimental contemporaries, like Anti-Scrunti Faction, The Dave Howard Singers, Mydolls, The Party's Over, Really Red, Rongwrong, and Michael Phillip Wojewoda, as well as Fifth Column. It is important to note that mainstream local media/middle-of-the-road maligners of the group, were a mix of music reporters/columnists who were both female and male, uncomfortable with the sound and performance, not considered palatable at the time. The trend behind the attacks were based on the band's approach to their genderific sketch of themselves as Second Wave feminists, disrupting populist ideas of being, songwriting, language and image. The commercial and careerist alternative scenes made of hetero-normative and gay assimilationists were also most threatened. The few Canadians in the media championing were: Radio Hosts/Journalists; CKLN's Denise Benson, The Eye's Chris O'Connor, The Sun's John Sakamoto, The Globe and Mail's Liam Lacey, CBC Brave New Wave's hosts Brent Banbury and Kevin Komoda. The Fifth Column sound forged on Vinyl, would not be, without the deftness of Producers/Engineers: Peter D. Hudson (Dundrells), Walter Sobczak (Sturm Group), MP Wojewoda and the elusive Jack Freimanis. The aforementioned actualized the sound that Jones and Azar were aiming for. There were no female producers available or interested at that innate time in Toronto history and culture. There were many girls close to the group who were inspiring friends/muses, and many of them appeared in the music video "Donna", like Jena Von Brucker, Mic Hell, Norma Jean LeFebvre and Ottilie Mason.
Their first vinyl release was the 7" Boy-Girl EP produced in 1983 by Voicepondence Records.
The name of their first full-length recording To Sir With Hate was a play on the theme song from the British school film, To Sir With Love, performed by Lulu. Produced by Michael Phillip Wojewoda, it is now considered a classic of Canadian music; at the 2016 Polaris Music Prize it was named a shortlisted nominee in the 1976-1985 category for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize, the 2017 Polaris Music Prize, and the 2018 Polaris Music Prize.
A song from this LP, "The Fairview Mall Story" was based on true events concerning media publication of the names of men arrested after being entrapped by police and was instrumental in paving the way for the emergence of the queercore scene. Their video for the song, directed by indie feature film director Steven Rumbelow, involved 50's images of men cruising in their new cars, shopping malls, and car crashes, was intercut with the band and go-go dancer Bruce La Bruce. A video for the song "Where Are they Now?" was also made, directed by Marc de Guerre.
Their live shows often included films played overtop of the band and a 'go-go' boy dancing. They were frequently accompanied by guest musicians who played instruments as varied as saxophone, trumpet, flute, or violin.
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Fifth Column (band)
Fifth Column was a Canadian all-female post-punk band from Toronto, which formed in 1980 and broke up in 1995.
The band began as a trio named Second Unit, with GB Jones on drums, Kathleen Pirrie Adams on bass, and Janet Martin on guitar. Caroline Azar saw this group play in the fall of 1980, and shortly after successfully auditioned as singer, and this lineup played their first gig as Fifth Column in late 1980.
The band took the name Fifth Column from their interpretation of an alleged military manoeuvre by fascist Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War, in which Nazi-aligned nationalist insurrectionists within besieged Republican Madrid, called the Fifth column, aided the four columns (north, south, east and west) outside the city's perimeters.
Soon after forming, the group became involved in the Cassette culture of the 1980s. Their first release was a selection of songs on the cassette compilation Urban Scorch released by Some Product in 1981. GB Jones, Caroline Azar and Candy Parker released an underground xerox art/social commentary zine named Hide, of which they published five issues. After its first issue, they came out with audio cassettes that were compilations of music by their punk, post-punk and experimental contemporaries, like Anti-Scrunti Faction, The Dave Howard Singers, Mydolls, The Party's Over, Really Red, Rongwrong, and Michael Phillip Wojewoda, as well as Fifth Column. It is important to note that mainstream local media/middle-of-the-road maligners of the group, were a mix of music reporters/columnists who were both female and male, uncomfortable with the sound and performance, not considered palatable at the time. The trend behind the attacks were based on the band's approach to their genderific sketch of themselves as Second Wave feminists, disrupting populist ideas of being, songwriting, language and image. The commercial and careerist alternative scenes made of hetero-normative and gay assimilationists were also most threatened. The few Canadians in the media championing were: Radio Hosts/Journalists; CKLN's Denise Benson, The Eye's Chris O'Connor, The Sun's John Sakamoto, The Globe and Mail's Liam Lacey, CBC Brave New Wave's hosts Brent Banbury and Kevin Komoda. The Fifth Column sound forged on Vinyl, would not be, without the deftness of Producers/Engineers: Peter D. Hudson (Dundrells), Walter Sobczak (Sturm Group), MP Wojewoda and the elusive Jack Freimanis. The aforementioned actualized the sound that Jones and Azar were aiming for. There were no female producers available or interested at that innate time in Toronto history and culture. There were many girls close to the group who were inspiring friends/muses, and many of them appeared in the music video "Donna", like Jena Von Brucker, Mic Hell, Norma Jean LeFebvre and Ottilie Mason.
Their first vinyl release was the 7" Boy-Girl EP produced in 1983 by Voicepondence Records.
The name of their first full-length recording To Sir With Hate was a play on the theme song from the British school film, To Sir With Love, performed by Lulu. Produced by Michael Phillip Wojewoda, it is now considered a classic of Canadian music; at the 2016 Polaris Music Prize it was named a shortlisted nominee in the 1976-1985 category for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize, the 2017 Polaris Music Prize, and the 2018 Polaris Music Prize.
A song from this LP, "The Fairview Mall Story" was based on true events concerning media publication of the names of men arrested after being entrapped by police and was instrumental in paving the way for the emergence of the queercore scene. Their video for the song, directed by indie feature film director Steven Rumbelow, involved 50's images of men cruising in their new cars, shopping malls, and car crashes, was intercut with the band and go-go dancer Bruce La Bruce. A video for the song "Where Are they Now?" was also made, directed by Marc de Guerre.
Their live shows often included films played overtop of the band and a 'go-go' boy dancing. They were frequently accompanied by guest musicians who played instruments as varied as saxophone, trumpet, flute, or violin.