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With a new Lp this year MINOOT BOWL DROPPED THE BALL
you may ask how when only one member still lives.
Well the tapes have been sitting in a box for 20 years and now
Mekclacker Fletcher felt it was time to find out what was inside.
The result THe Return OF HILT.
Formed by Allo Gobi and Ken Tokefly in 1979 the duo made their first audio recording
on cassette tape in 1985. Entitled "In My Head" it quickly became a faveorite tape
of theirs to play instead of the classics they were influenced by such as DOA, Subhumans,
Dishrags,Pointed Sticks and Pussy Galore. Al Nelson aka Aloo had already carved himself into the legendary Smilin Buddah Vancouver Punk rock scene fronting Illegal Youth in 1979.
That is how Ken and Al met. One day Ken sat in on drums on the recording of "Actung" a track for Illegal Youth and then took off to Japan to lose himself. Years later the duo meet again and meet up in a basement of the Gastown Wax museum to jam a bit. Little did the duo know that both had agreed to begin playing instruments they wanted to play, but as yet didn't. Ken the Lead Guitar and Al rytym guitar keyboards and drums.
The pair began recording the ideas even though the experience hadn;t really had a chance to "show". Strangely Al and Ken met up w a group of drifters who persuaded The Flu to form.
With this began a weekly ritual of recording songs irregardless of whether they'd even written anything. So began the inspiration to tape and the recordings began to take a shape of their own. The second set of recordings made at home were made on 4 track cassette tape that would become the staple for The FLu's next few years of recordings, many documented on
the 2002 Subconscious release Hilt The worst of the FLu.
From 1985-86 several primitive recordings were made, but of course never released.
The duo moved to Toronto Ontario in 1987 and immediatly noticed that because of weather conditions and a more soundproof apartment, that they could record their tracks and have a party before going out for a night on the town in Toronto.
Many times several tracks were recorded in a hour while sharing a drink or a toke.
Always in a sense of inspiration but also drawing from the mutual interests in both the punk scene and complete absurd noise. Al was a champion at the most bizzare phone messages one could make. That has lead to many great Flu recordings being made over the phone.
Many of these recording still exist but have yet to be heard except by the group.
MINOOT BOWL DROPPED THE BALL picks up where HILT THE WORST OF THE FLU starts.
So essentially picking things up earlier.
The Flu did go on to be signed to Nettwerk in 1989 and quickly started thinking about making one of their classic styled noise tapes into a vinyl release, and thus
CALL THE AMBULANCE BEFORE I HURT MYSELF was born.
The band wasn;t entirely happy with the recording as it didn;t capture the true essense of The FLU but had essentially grown into a new group HILT.
Other members were born and Hilt became a very large idea to begin recording their
Second and last full length LP for Nettwerk, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE BOWL.
Though more ideal and closer to the vision of The Flu, Hilt had become bigger than their boots, and with their last EP ORANGE PONY the group became a supergroup and thus imploded.
Though the 2 remained best friends they both went their own ways and pursued their careers and lives, then coming back together for several recordings in 1996 in Vancouver's Subconscious Studios where Al and tokefly made 3 new recordings which would also be their last which also appear on WORST OF THE FLU release.
Unfortunatly Al NELSON aka ALOO GOBI passed away from Diabetes in Feb 2000.
Ken Tokefly has been absent from Vancouver ever since and the dust has settled .
The tapes have sat in boxes and this year Mekclacker Fletcher decided to find them and see what they sounded like. The result can now be heard on the new release of Hilt The Flu
MINOOT BOWL DROPPED THE BALL, It essentially captures something that is hard to put to words. It could be the worst thing you may have ever heard, but to some it really is pure
and honest thrash hardcore in the truest meaning of the word. Unique.
Its also GREAT to be able to honour the creative energy of Al NELSON and KEN TOKEFLY
now for the first time in a timeless work.
ORDER NOW at www.subconsciousstudios.com
