Posts by David Jón Fuller

Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Live, No Guff!

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For me, the Killer Dwarfs’ second live album, Live, No Guff! had two barriers to hurdle. First, I bought it at the concert where I first saw them live, when they and Kick Axe opened for Helix, and they were fantastic. How could a recording live up to that?

Live No Guff
The Killer Dwarfs’ Live, No Guff!

Second, I wasn’t super keen on their previous live album, so I had my doubts about this one. (In hindsight, I think that was due to the recording quality on Reunion of Scribes, the true-to-life gaps between songs, and the fact it works better as a video recording).

So how does Live, No Guff! measure up?

Fantastically.

Any live album should make the listener feel they are actually at the concert, even if this means editing reality. The band recorded Live, No Guff! at live performances in Toronto, Ottawa, Whitehorse and Vancouver, rather than the single Toronto concert that was Reunion of Scribes.

Singer Russ Graham keeps the between-song banter to a minimum, but there’s enough to let you know the Dwarfs are having fun. During a lull in “Doesn’t Matter,” Graham tells the audience that maybe he’ll be prime minister one day “once I learn how to do all that math and stuff.”

The lineup on this album is Graham on lead vocals, Gerry Finn on guitar, Johnny Fenton on bass, and Darrell Millar on drums. The audio mix of electric and acoustic guitar, bass, vocals and drums is excellent.

The feeling is of a seamless blow-by-blow tour of the Dwarfs’ greatest hits. (Sadly, they still don’t play “We Stand Alone” on this recording, either).

The band plays songs spanning its entire career, from “Heavy Mental Breakdown” off debut album Killer Dwarfs, to the title track for Stand Tall, to Big Deal’s “Union of Pride,” the electrifying “Comin’ Through” from Dirty Weapons, “Hard Luck Town” from Method to the Madness, and the title track for Start @ One. It’s a clever way for a band whose albums are divided between various record labels and independent releases, some of which are out of print, to issue its own “greatest hits” album.

Having seen Killer Dwarfs now as both opening band and headliner, I’d say Live, No Guff! gives the best of both worlds. It sounds like a band professionally keeping things tight, playing together seamlessly, and still having a great time with the audience. I’d put it at the top of my favourite Killer Dwarfs albums, as well as near the top of my favourite live albums.

It’s also the perfect intro for anyone who’s never heard them before, and unlike some of their classic albums, it’s relatively easy to get hold of. Well worth the price of admission.

Live, No Guff!

  • Killer Dwarfs
  • 2018, EMP
  • Five stars out of five

Metal Monday: Russ Dwarf’s Wireless

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While not technically a Killer Dwarfs album, Russ Dwarf’s Wireless is a worthy addition for any Dwarfs completist, featuring acoustic reworkings of many of their best-known songs.

Russ Dwarf Wireless
Russ Dwarf’s Wireless

As with any album of acoustic versions, Wireless has its ups and down. (Points to Russ “Dwarf” Graham for calling it that instead of “unplugged,” which conjures up memories of endless 1990s albums.)

Musicians on the album include Glenn Belcher (guitars, sitars, banjo, wood), Rob Zakojc (bass, backing vocals). Also contributing guitar playing are Kevin Simpson, Dan Lear, Kevin Reid, Ron Thal and Glen Drover. Cosimo Crupi plays keyboards, and Fred Duvall is credited for “bottles of anger,” whatever those may be.

Perfect fits

Slower songs from the Dwarfs’ later albums like “Look Around,” “Four Seasons” and “Driftin’ Back” each work so well acoustically they might as well have been the original versions. There’s less layering to, say, “Driftin’ Back,” but it still sounds great.

Out of left field

The wireless take on “I’m Alive,” from Big Deal answers the question “What would the Killer Dwarfs sound like as a twangy honky-tonk band?” And I’m less sure I buy Graham’s crooning reimagining of “Dirty Weapons.” Nothing wrong with his singing; it just got me thinking, “Maybe their heavier stuff can’t be ‘wireless’.” But then…

Songs that shouldn’t work, but totally do

The Dwarfs’ first big hit, “Keep the Spirit Alive” kicks off the album. It’s slower than the original, but no less effective. The optimistic spirit (ha) of the original shines through on this stripped-down version.

Graham follows that up with a song from the same album, “Stand Tall,” which keeps the tempo of the original, but recreates the beat which crisp strumming instead of the soaring power chords and heavy drums. Mike Hall’s outstanding guitar solo, played on acoustic guitar (I assume by Belcher) would give Adrian Legg a run for his money.

I was blown away by the live version of “Comin’ Through” in concert and on Live, No Guff! And the studio original on Dirty Weapons is as heavy as the Dwarfs get. But man… the wireless version loses none of the aggression, and sounds like it should be on the soundtrack for a revenge-heavy Western. (You can hear some of it in the video below.)

Overall…

This is a solid album of different takes on the Killer Dwarfs’ pop-metal standards, with a few curve balls thrown in. Outstanding singing by Russ Graham and guitar work by many make it worth adding to your collection.

Wireless

  • Russ Dwarf
  • 2013, Independent / 2018, EMP
  • Four stars out of five

Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Start at One

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On Start at One, the Killer Dwarfs wail like the early 1990s never went away. As far as the album is concerned, it’s true.

Killer Dwarfs Start at One
The Killer Dwarfs recorded Start at One in 1993, but released it in 2013.

The Dwarfs originally recorded Start at One (stylized as Start @ One) in 1993 with the same band lineup as Method to the Madness: Russ Graham on vocals, Darrell Millar on drums, Ronald Mayer on bass and Gerry Finn on guitar. Unfortunately, it wasn’t released then and was, apparently, only available as a bootleg called Just Another Day. Blogger Carl Hose has more of the story. So for most fans, Method to the Madness was the last Dwarfs album before the band went on an indefinite hiatus. (That is, before some members reformed the band for a performance they recorded for Reunion of Scribes — Live 2001).

However, in 2013, the Killer Dwarfs released the album independently as Start @ One. (When the band signed with the EMP label, EMP re-released it in 2018.) So how does a heavy rock album recorded during the height of Grunge hold up in the 21st century?

Pretty well, actually.

Start @ One showcases the melodic songwriting the Killer Dwarfs displayed on albums like Dirty Weapons and Method to the Madness. But sonically, it’s more stripped-down, hearkening back to the style of their debut album.

The album starts off with two catchy songs, “Lonely Road,” and “Solid Ground,” before shifting into the slithering “Sky is Falling” that starts off with sharp, spare guitar riffs that keep grinding all the way through to the sarcastic-sounding chorus and calliope-infused end. (Yes, the calliope sound works, even if it’s a little weird.)

In 1993, not as many radio stations were playing this style of heavy rock anymore. But by the time the Dwarfs released Start at One, heavy metal and hard rock had had a renaissance. Bands like Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses were releasing new studio albums and touring as if the 1980s roared on. The fact the Dwarfs had an entire album’s worth of “new” material in that style made it a timely release in 2013.

The songs show a good diversity of what the Dwarfs are capable of. The title track, a hammering, melodic number that also sounds great live. The album shows its mellow side with the slower, Led-Zeppelin-esque “The Crowd.” I wasn’t as crazy about “Down in Hollywood,” which seems like a throwback to the L.A. music scene at the time it was written.

Overall, Start at One is a solid album, and a good addition to the Dwarfs’ catalogue. With its eventual release, fans no longer had to chase down illegal copies.

Start @ One

  • Killer Dwarfs
  • Independent (2013) / EMP (2018)
  • Three and a half stars out of five

Enjoy these ’80s TV mashups

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I don’t know why glomming two different things onto each other appeals to me so much, but it’s probably why I like puns so much. Or that I wonder what would happen in a crossover between Teen Wolf and The Lost Boys. Or write novels that jam, say, 1980s heavy metal and werewolves together, or others that mix Monty Python absurdity with Icelandic folklore. Occasionally, I start thinking up ’80s TV mashups. Here are the shows I came up with…

Sitcoms

Laugh-a-minute hijinks with your favourite high-concept, never-evolving characters in static three-set environments:

  • The Facts of Webster
  • Chachi in Charge*
  • Silver Moonlighting
  • My Two Ties
  • Bosom Morks
  • Joanie Loves Shirley
  • The Strokes of Life
  • Who’s Company?
  • Family Days

* admittedly this might be indistinguishable from either original series

Dramas

Emmy-award-winning, definitely-not-soap-operas because, uh, they used film, not videotape, and also, were broadcast in the evening.

  • Elsewhere Street Blues
  • airwolfsomething
  • St. Dynasty
  • Hill Street Cheers

Action/suspense shows

Diff’rent A-Team is a TV mashup I’d watch.

These would definitely make your mid-week evening “must-see TV” list:

  • Starsky and Mindy
  • Diff’rent A-Team
  • Too Close For Spenser
  • Remington & Remington
  • Sledge Hunter!
  • T.J. Hooker For Hire
  • Magnum Steele, P.I.
  • The Knights of Hazzard*

*It occurs to me this probably would have been a lot more sinister than a show with a flashy car :/

Ensemble casts

There’s always a standout subplot or gimmick for a minor character within the rigid parameters of every episode:

  • Love Island
  • Star Trek: The Day After
  • The Blue Thunder Years
  • The Happy Boat

Game shows

Try your skill, luck, or interpersonal charm at some of these doozies:

  • Wheel of Jeopardy
  • The Family is Right
  • Let’s Make a Feud
  • The $64,000 Definition*

*(I know, wrong decade)

Sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and other genres

Big ideas! Low budget! Probably a cool vehicle! To say nothing of the costumes…

  • Airwerewolf
  • Tales of the Golden A.L.F.
  • Automanimal
  • M.A.S.H. Headroom
  • Bring ‘Em Back Matthew Starr

Soap operas

Don’t worry, the interpersonal strife between the characters will never be resolved.

  • The Dallas Boat
  • WKRP in Santa Barbara
  • The Young and the Ripley’s Believe It or Not

CanCon

For non-Canucks, CanCon is “Canadian content” meaning entertainment that has been written, performed, recorded, produced, or replicated (or some complicated percentage of any or all of these things) by a Canadian, as judged by the CRTC, which has mandated a certain proportion of CanCon be broadcast by Canadian television and radio stations. This is why shows like The Beachcombers lasted forever, and why generations of teens must endure endless replays of The Guess Who on rock radio.

Here are some shows that might have livened up the ol’ CBC or CTV lineups:

  • The Danger Bay of Things
  • Beachcombers: The Next Generation
  • The Sesame Giant
  • 21 Degrassi Street
  • SCTV in Cincinnati
  • Mr. Dressup’s Neighbourhood

No idea, but it sounds fun

  • Lifestyles of the Rich and Newhart

It’s your turn

All right, I’ve had my fun. Now let’s hear your ideas for ’80s TV mashups. You can see what author J.C. Lillis came up with when we were brainstorming on Twitter:

No idea is too out-there, and I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface. Drop a title in the comments below, or tweet with the #80sTVmashups hashtag!

Farewell to 2019

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For anyone out there interested in what I’ve been up to, writing-wise, I wish I had more publishing news! But that’s the problem with working on novels. They take a long time in development, and a long time to find a publisher.

For a lot of 2019, I continued to send out Bark at the Moon, my 1980s metal/werewolf novel. I also sought feedback on it from beta readers for some aspects I hadn’t given deep enough consideration to, and made revisions to it.

Most of the revising work I was doing, though, was on my other novel-in-progress, A Taste of Home. I often describe it as a Douglas Adams-esque take on Icelandic folklore transplanted to Canada, and if that’s not niche enough for you, it also explores the reasons Icelanders cannot agree on the correct recipe for vínarterta and why family recipes (or at least, one) are guarded jealously.  I was also getting feedback on the MS and some of the history it grapples with from fellow writers and experts, and incorporating their feedback into a massive revision of the entire manuscript.

What else? I also started working on a novel about a haunted theatre, which I will probably blog more about once I can devote more time to both the novel and blogging. I decided to write the first draft of the novel by hand, to see if it had any effect on  the creative process.

Parallel Prairies
Parallel Prairies

One other thing I never did blog about was the publication of Parallel Prairies by Great Plains Publications, an anthology of the weird and bizarre, in which my story, “The Comments Gaze Also Into You,” was included.

So that’s all my writing news for now. I’m not sure much else will happen, publishing wise, before the end of the year, so I’ll just call this my writing-year-in-review post. I’ll blog again! But likely not a lot of news until one of these various projects finds a home.

I’ll ask though — what are y’all up to?  Drop me a line in the comments with any news, writing projects, or things you’re excited about being involved in!

Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Method to the Madness

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Much (perhaps too much) has been written about the demise of heavy metal as a commercial force in the wake of grunge in the early 1990s. And certainly, a lot of 1980s cock-rock bands found themselves out in the cold in a post-Nirvana and Pearl Jam world. That was too bad for the Killer Dwarfs, who were always one of the smarter metal bands, in terms of lyrics and a down-to-Earth sense of who they were. Because Method to the Madness is one of their best albums. And for a long time, it was their last.

Method to the Madness
Killer Dwarfs’ Method to the Madness

In addition to making a great commercial heavy metal album when much of the music industry was heaving in another direction, the band’s lineup changed with the departure of guitarist Mike Hall. Newfoundland’s Gerry Finn stepped into the role. From the blistering opening of album opener “Hard Luck Town,” he put his own stamp on the Dwarfs’ sound. The almost eerie bridge and languorous guitar solo add a rich dimension to the song.

It was one of the singles and shows what the Dwarfs do best: a madcap sonic assault with plenty of sing- (or shout-) along choruses. It’s still a staple of their live shows, so should you hear Russ Graham bellow to the audience, “What kind of a fuckin’ town is this?” — now you know the answer.

The rest of the album, a lengthy 13 songs, is a fitting cap to the Dwarfs’ initial burst of popularity. “Just As Well” is a grinding, rowdy fist-pumper. “Driftin’ Back,” is a nostalgic ballad that plays to the strengths of the Dwarfs’ acoustic range.

It’s not the only one, either — “Four Seasons” is a fantastic piece, about the inevitable passage of time, one that Graham would revisit on his 2013 solo acoustic album.

It’s not all soft and weepy, of course. The album’s title track, “Method to the Madness,” is another big, loud, slightly obnoxious tune, that kicks off with the truism “Opinions are like assholes / Everybody’s got one!/Turn the other cheek?/I don’t think so!” and boasts a chorus loud enough to fill a canyon, in the tradition of  previous Dwarfs tunes “Stand Tall” and “Power.”

There’s not a lot of filler on this album, which is one of their longest, and also their strongest. “Give and Take” shows the Dwarfs’ propensity for layered, complex sound. I have to say, despite my fondness for Stand Tall, Method to the Madness is my favourite Killer Dwarfs studio album.

For some reason, “Doesn’t Matter,” from the Dwarfs’ previous album Dirty Weapons, was included at the end of the version I bought. It’s too bad, because while an excellent song, it feels tacked on after the fantastic album closer “Cowboys and Conmen.”

Unfortunately, the Dwarfs went on hiatus after Method to the Madness. That made one of their strongest and most musically diverse albums also one of their last… for a while.

Method to the Madness

  • Killer Dwarfs
  • Sony, 1992
  • Four and a half stars out of five
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