(Pre-Vinyl History of Career Suicide - Part 1)
This page was inspired by and borrows the images from a post on Damian Abraham's Instagram. It covers the two Career Suicide Demo tapes, along with demo tapes from some of the bands that preceded Career Suicide, including:
- As One / Scare Tactic
- Bored of Education
- Fuck Jonah
The text is mostly borrowed from MRR pieces and EXD interviews from the time to tell the stories behind these tapes. Naturally the first story begins with a CD....
MRR Interview (Nov 4 2001): SCARE TACTIC are a band formerly known as AS ONE. They released a four Song CD that had a new school sXe sound a few years back, on their own.
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| As One - Four Song CD |
MRR: How did AS ONE form ? What made you all start a band with each other ?
Jonah: Well, Robert and Jesse (Parker) are brothers, and James has known them both for more or less their entire lives. Jesse's uncle is James' godfather and they've always been close, so forming a band seemed natural when they all became interested in the same kind of music. The band that they originally formed was called BSE. During the year of either 1997 or 1998 I joined the band and it went from there. We changed the name (twice), changed the sound (twice) and here we are.
MRR: On the CD you did this Cover of "United Worldwide" and assume that the name, AS ONE
was taken from the WARZONE song by the same name. Is WARZONE still a big influence on
the band ?
James: No...
MRR: Can you tell us about the recording of your latest demo ? Where and how did you record it ?
James: It was recorded in Jesse and Rob's basement by their uncle. He has a reel-to- reel 3 track recorder and he spent a lot of time trying to get the sound we wanted. It was done in the winter of 2000-2001.
From "Toronto Scene Report" 2002: AS ONE have just released an awesome demo entitled "sowhatifi'mafuckingdemo". It sounds like a
cross between Charles Bronson and Shark Attack. The band has just
changed their name to SCARE TACTIC
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As One "Demo" Cassette
Later Pressed on vinyl as Scare Tactic 7" |
ExD Zine Volume 2, Number 2 (Feb 2002): CAREER SUICIDE are a relatively new local group that feature Martin and Noah from Equalizing-X-Distort. But CAREER SUICIDE is more than just a radio show band The band was formed from members of various local bands from the last little while. Martin Farkas is the singer and has an F.U.'s sounding style. Martin was in BORED OF EDUCATION and FUCK JONAH, bands that largely form the backdrop to this group. Noah Gadke plays bass and has played bass in FUCK JONAH and GOJIRA. Jonah Falco, the namesake behind FUCK JONAH plays in a million other bands including two that have already played this live segment - FUCKED UP and SCARE TACTIC. Tonight, he plays as the guitarist in CAREER SUICIDE and brings a kaleidoscope of early 80's thrash to the sound. And Eric Smith, is the drummer and played drums in FUCK JONAH and PHALLOCRACY. The band recently recorded one of the best demos that I have heard to come out of Toronto. The demo contains 7 or 8 songs depending on how you count them.
ExD: Can you fill me in on how you guys formed? Who met who? Who got brought in and at what times?
Martin: It should start with the story of how FUCK JONAH began. Things got moving with a band
called BORED OF EDUCATION, which was comprised of Jonah, Jesse (from SCARE TACTIC)
and myself.
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| Bored of Education 'Real Punks Wear Safety Pins Through Their Testicles' - Cassette |
Martin: We had been together for over a year when Jonah decided one summer to disappear on a two month canoe trip in the Yukon. Jesse and I were left without a bass player and instead of simply finding a replacement we made the decision, while Jonah was gone, to start a new band and fittingly dubbed it FUCK JONAH. We recruited Mark 'Pesci' Rodenheizer and Noah Gadke to play guitar and bass (respectively), which spared me of having to play guitar and left me to focus on yelling, screaming and maiming myself during frequent dives into the drum kit. That band went for a while, we had a few drummers, including Mark Jerret (of TEEN CRUD COMBO) but, we eventually settled on Eric Smith.
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| Fuck Jonah Cassette (Green inlay) |
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| Fuck Jonah Cassette Inlay (Pink Version) |
We played a bunch of shows and recorded a few demos until I decided to ditch it all and move to the west coast, almost breaking up the band. Soon after my departure though Mr. Jonah Falco was actually recruited to play in FUCK JONAH...
Noah: and then we had to change the name.
Jonah: ....for one practise in Mark's basement.
Noah: and then he never called us again.
Jonah: ....and I joined FUCKED UP.
Noah: And then I took over as singer and our friend Chris joined on guitar and that didn't work out and Mark played bass. We played one show and that didn't work out.
Eric: Actually, we had to throw Mark out of the band because he became addicted to over-the-counter laxatives.
ExD: Okay, let me ask this, can you guys describe your sound ? Yes, let's use hardcore as the reference point because that's who will be reading this?
Jonah: Mike (FUCKED UP) described it pretty well one time when he said we are the F.U.'s meets ANGRY SAMOANS and JERRY'S KIDS with a little GANG GREEN.
ExD: I do hear lots of those Boston influences, I wanted to ask you about the demo. It is pretty amazing sounding. Where did you record this?
Noah: In our sweat stained,...
Martin: ....closet-sized basement,
Noah: which is soon to become my bedroom unfortunately enough, Martin rented a four-track and
we ....
Jonah: Everyone was late and we ended up doing it in half an hour
Martin: It almost didn't happen because the rental shop didn't give us all the proper equipment and the four-track wasn't even working. I had to take a cab back to the store, then all the way back to Eric's place, leaving us half an hour before Eric had to leave for work. It remarkably worked out anyway.
Noah: I think Eric's girlfriend's book club was coming over and we had to be out of there.
Martin: Eric's girlfriend, AKA Yoko Ono.
ExD: How long did it take you to record this?
Jonah: Originally we were going to practise and record from 7:00pm til 9:00pm but the equipment didn't get there and personnel didn't get there until 8:30pm, so we set everything up in five minutes and whipped through all the songs once or twice. . . .
Noah: ....without checking levels in anyway and then Martin and I went back to his place - which isn't as exciting as it sounds - and we listened to it and we couldn't believe that it actually sounded pretty decent.
Eric: People think we play so fast. It's not deliberate, it's just that this is the least punctual band on earth. We are forced to cram twenty songs into five minutes.
Noah: Cindy was banging on the door.
ExD: Do you have any plans for recording new material ?
Martin: Yes. The recording we just did at CIUT tonight will come out on a CD as far as I know, unless it is absolutely terrible. We are now planning on renting another four-track in the next couple of weeks, recording a second demo and soon after we will go into a proper studio to record a bunch of songs, hopefully for an LP.
ExD: Is there anyone who is going to be putting this out?
Martin: We don't know yet. We are probably going to record, pass it around to whoever has shown any interest and if people are still amused after they hear more of this crap then we'll sell to the highest bidder.
Noah: And then I took over as singer and our friend Chris joined on guitar and that didn't work out and Mark played bass. We played one show and that didn't work out.
Eric: Actually, we had to throw Mark out of the band because he became addicted to over-the-counter laxatives.
ExD: Okay, let me ask this, can you guys describe your sound ? Yes, let's use hardcore as the reference point because that's who will be reading this?
Jonah: Mike (FUCKED UP) described it pretty well one time when he said we are the F.U.'s meets ANGRY SAMOANS and JERRY'S KIDS with a little GANG GREEN.
ExD: I do hear lots of those Boston influences, I wanted to ask you about the demo. It is pretty amazing sounding. Where did you record this?
Noah: In our sweat stained,...
Martin: ....closet-sized basement,
Noah: which is soon to become my bedroom unfortunately enough, Martin rented a four-track and
we ....
Jonah: Everyone was late and we ended up doing it in half an hour
 |
| First Demo, recorded in 30 minutes (October 2001) Cassette limited to 30 or 40 copies |
Martin: It almost didn't happen because the rental shop didn't give us all the proper equipment and the four-track wasn't even working. I had to take a cab back to the store, then all the way back to Eric's place, leaving us half an hour before Eric had to leave for work. It remarkably worked out anyway.
Noah: I think Eric's girlfriend's book club was coming over and we had to be out of there.
Martin: Eric's girlfriend, AKA Yoko Ono.
 |
| The first CS demo was later included on the 'Toronto City Omnibus' compilation LP, the above image appears in the booklet included with that release. |
ExD: How long did it take you to record this?
Jonah: Originally we were going to practise and record from 7:00pm til 9:00pm but the equipment didn't get there and personnel didn't get there until 8:30pm, so we set everything up in five minutes and whipped through all the songs once or twice. . . .
 |
 |
Noah: ....without checking levels in anyway and then Martin and I went back to his place - which isn't as exciting as it sounds - and we listened to it and we couldn't believe that it actually sounded pretty decent.
Eric: People think we play so fast. It's not deliberate, it's just that this is the least punctual band on earth. We are forced to cram twenty songs into five minutes.
Noah: Cindy was banging on the door.
ExD: Do you have any plans for recording new material ?
Martin: Yes. The recording we just did at CIUT tonight will come out on a CD as far as I know, unless it is absolutely terrible. We are now planning on renting another four-track in the next couple of weeks, recording a second demo and soon after we will go into a proper studio to record a bunch of songs, hopefully for an LP.
 |
| Second Demo (June 2002) "Unmastered tracks from upcoming LP" 20 or so copies |
ExD: Is there anyone who is going to be putting this out?
Martin: We don't know yet. We are probably going to record, pass it around to whoever has shown any interest and if people are still amused after they hear more of this crap then we'll sell to the highest bidder.
