Tough Justice

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TOUGH JUSTICE
The Early Years
Tough Justice started as a Punk/Oi band in 1983 when schoolmates Rod and Dean Locke started jamming with Danny Thomas and Sean Doran . They played 1 MacPherson jr.high talent show as that line up. Most memorable from that performance was thier rendition of the Sex Pistols "Belson Was A Gas". The school took objection to the songs lyrical content so the crafty 13 and 14 yr olds quickly rewrote the lyrics before going onstage and renamed the song .The lyric went something like this-"Esso Was A Gas..I heard the other day....I put 5 gallons in my Chevrolet". Soon after that perfomance Sean left and the band realigned and became a 3 piece. After attending a D.O.A. performance at the OilPatch (now LiquidIce) on April 7th 1984 a 14 yr old Rod found himself totally energized and inspired and convinced the band to start playing more public venues with other local punk bands The Riot,Public Enemy(not the ChuckD version),and The Reckoning to name a few. In those early days they played mostly covers by some of thier favorite bands which included The Exploited,G.B.H.,Anti Pasti,The Buisness, The Freeze and of course D.O.A. Eventually the band started to write thier own songs but this took some time due to the fact that they didn't own any equipment beyond thier guitars. They would wait patiently for Danny's older brothers Louis and Lil to leave the house and they'd sneek in and jam on the "borrowed" equipment. On more than one occasion the Locke brothers were seen climbing out windows to avoid getting caught by the elder Thomas's.
The Core Years
By the mid 80's Tough Justice style began to lean more towards the hardcore they were now listening to. Bands like Minor Threat,The Asexuals, G.I.,Youth Brigade,BadBrains,7 Seconds , TheUnwanted,and Scream (way too many others to mention) were mainstays in thier cassette decks. These influences began to be quite evident in the new songs they were writing and the evolving scene in St.John's began to take notice. Not since Da Slyme had a punk band created such a buzz in St. John's. CBC radio invited the lads into the studio to record one of these songs - Time Bomb (if anyone has a copy let us know please). The studio experience excited Tough Justice and they were eager to record more of thier songs until Danny decided to take off to the mainland. While this seemed to be somewhat of a setback it was actually a blessing in disguise. A new line up emerged with the recruitment of drummer Don Ellis and rhythm guitarist Johnny Fisher. With these new members in tow the Locke brothers were now able to execute the sounds they heard in thier heads. Once again they set thier sights on recording. In the basement of the Ellis family home they experimented with recording processes and the course was set... almost. On the eve of thier first full length cassette Danny returned home and wanted back into the band he started with Rod and Dean. It was decided that he would now take the role of lead vocalist. In just a few short months Tough Justice developed from a cozy 3 piece to a full on 5 piece band. This line up was forever documented through the release of the 10 song cassette 3 Seconds of Silence. During this golden era of the St.John's hard core scene Tough Justice often shared the stage with thier peers and rivals Schizoid and Wafut. In those days the scene was small but in someways it was more enthusiastic and supportive than it is today. By 1987 they had opened for one of thier favorite bands SNFU but not long after Danny left yet again either to the mainland or to join his brothers who you may remember as the Thomas Trio. Don Ellis too moved on to join Schizoid. The Lockes and thir nieghbor Fisher decided to bring in thier buddy Llewellen Thomas who had done a brief stint with the band years earlier as a drummer the first time Danny left then as a vocalist when Danny returned(please note these two Thomas's are not related). This time around he was asked to drum. Once again Tough Justice began to evolve in new ways.
The Thrash Years
In the late 80's Tough Justice started to move away from the melodies of thier early yrs in exchange for more speed. This was the result of about a yrs worth of writers block in conjunction with listening to bands like A.O.D. Beyond Possesion, The Accused, D.R.I., Attitude Adjustment and Genetic Control. For most of that year they practiced about 5 times a week jamming the same 30 songs over and over again with one main objective - Faster Faster Faster! While this thrilled the band the same could not be said for everyone. On one occasion they were asked to play a benefit show for TheGradHouse at the TSC cafeteria but after playing 5 full songs in about 9 mins the organizers pulled the plug on the band citing that what they had just played was completely indecipherable. The style also devided the bands fan base ... it was now near impossible for people to circle dance and eventually the floor in front of them at the live shows began to empty with only the hardest of the hard cores left to mosh and mash each other to the floor.Then in late 87 the boys were invited by Pat Janes to go up to CHMR FM's studio and Document this version of the band. The session was marred with technical difficulties,internal feuding, and a completely miffed engineer. Needless to say Tough Justice found themselves unsatisfied with the outcome and for many yrs kept the results hidden from the general public with the exception of a version of Young Problems which actually went to number one on the CHMR charts for several weeks. As great as that was for the band the overall experience of that session and the publics split over thier new style scarred them. This discouraged Dean a little and when the opertunity to move to Ontario came in 88 he moved on and Tough Justice took a long deserved nap.
The Lost Years
It was during this break that Rod and John began to concentrate on a side project they called Fish n Rod. They brought Don back in on drums and for a period of time thier friend Ron Noftall played bass. In true Tough Justice fashion however they re-aligned them selves just before going in to record and Ron was out,Don moved to bass ,and Rod Wills stepped in behind the kit. The band now had become the sonic guitarists of Tough Justice and the driving rhythm section of thier former rivals Schizoid. Audiences approved! This kept the boys busy for most of that yr. Eventually other commitments got in the way and Fish n Rod disbanded. For the next year of so members of Tough Justice foccused on thier personal lives. As they entered thier adult years they were forced to do such horrid things as find employment , get educations, cultivate personal debt, and become slaves to the wage. These unfamilier stresses distracted just about everyone who had ever played in Tough Justice no matter where they were or what they were now doing. For the first time the music took the back seat.
The Reunion Years?
As the 90's rolled in Tough Justice began to hear people say "I wish Tough Justice would play again" so when the opertunity would arise they would oblige. They always felt uncomfotable with the term "reunion" because technicly the band had never broken up. It was more of a drifting apart due to circumstances beyond thier control. In all the yrs that they had played together there was only one time they ever felt as though they were doing a reunion show and that was the time brother Dean flew home in 91 or 92 and they played a weekend stint at BarNone with Bung opening (before they got big :)) when it was located where Junctions is now. The first night drew a huge crowd and the second was most memorable when Dean pointed out to the audience and said "You two people are lucky to be here". Dean returned to the mainland and the band still continued to play shows a couple of times a year up until 95 or 96. By this point band members had had children to care for , other bands to think about, multiple jobs, and sickly sensation that no one cared about hard core. This time they drifted apart for many yrs and with the exception of a scattered hello rarely saw or talked to each other anymore. Until now!
The "Here it comes again" Years
In early August 2006 the band returned to open for The3TARDS during thier stop in St.John's on Aug.26th. From the moment they plugged in and cut into the first song at that first practice they knew they were back. What will come from this encounter? Only time will tell but ask a band member on the street and they'll tell you "this just feels right". Don't be suprised if they start writing new songs. Actually be totally suprised! There hasnt been a new Tough Justice song in over 16 yrs.
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