Scare Tactic is where we can begin Jonah's story, for the purposes of this FU related discography. The band comprised Jesse Parker on vocals, Jonah on Guitar, Robert Parker (Jesse's younger brother) on drums and their friend James on Bass. The following quotes from Jonah are taken from email correspondence.
Jonah joined BSE in 1997 or 1998, the band later changed its name to As One, referencing the song by NYHC band Warzone. As One recorded a four song CD "No Less An Authority"circa 2000, then "sowhatifi'mafuckingdemo" during the winter of 2000. The demo was recorded in Jesse's basement, by his uncle and released on cassette.
Scare Tactic recorded a Studio 3 session for Equalizing-X-Distort in November 2001 and the vinyl version of the demo was released the following month. At this point, Jonah had also started playing guitar for Career Suicide and drums for Fucked Up; the artwork on the 7" record labels is by Damian and members of both CS & FU are thanked in the insert notes, alongside other names familiar in the Toronto punk scene.
The band continued for a short while longer, recording three new tracks in August 2002, for the Toronto City Omnibus comp, released the following year.
As One / Scare Tactic Discography
"No Less An Authority" (4 song CD)
CD Artwork images courtesy of Stephe Perry
Notes:
Exclaim! Review (Feb 2001): Angsty Toronto teens play old style hardcore on this decent debut. There's four songs on this, one of which is a cover of Warzone's "United Worldwide." The others feature tough guy lyrics, like on "It's Time," ("Think you'll fuck with me? I'll fuck with you. Think I'm locked down? It's coming back for you.") Juxtaposed with this are photos of the band members, one of whom is a cherubic lad who looks like a more like a wallflower at a grade eight dance. Despite all this, their sound still packs a pretty good wallop. (Independent)
"sowhatifi'mafuckingdemo" (Cassette)
"Scare Tactic" (Demo 7")
Stats:
Released: 2001
Tracks:
A: PS I Love You / Step Right Up / Our Voice, Pro Choice / Lies / Smile, Dammit
B: Push My Luck / First To Fall / Know It Snot / Walk The Dogma / Devils Night / My Dad Met Black Sabbath And Didn't Know Who They Were
Label: Solomon Records
Matrix A: SM-01-A
Matrix B: SM-01-B
Pressing Info: 800
Inserts: Regular A4 insert as pictured above
Variants: Handwritten labels
Notes:
The Scare Tactic 7" has the same recordings as the "sowhatifi'mafuckingdemo" cassette, apart from one track; a Sons of Ishmael cover which is on the cassette only.
From Solomon Records: Our first release is a killer 7" EP from Toronto's SCARE TACTIC, released December 14, 2001. SCARE TACTIC play fast, raw hardcore that lies somewhere between pure early '80's stuff and the recent thrash resurgence-- lots of energy and power, with smart lyrics to seal the deal. Formerly called AS ONE, the band released these songs as a demo that impressed everyone that heard it and just demanded to be pressed on wax. There are 11 songs on the EP, and 800 were pressed.
Jonah: I think most of the silver ink handwriting (on the labels) was Dave "Last" Partridge, the guy who released it. "Solomon Method" his label, is named in reference to a method of eating hot dogs really quickly that I think some Japanese guy invented around 1999 when, I suppose, eating contests were on people's minds.
Stephe Perry: Simon Harvey was one of the co-hosts and founders of EXD and he had started a record label at the time called Ugly Pop Records. He was trying to put out local records, once every month. But he was over extended with the number of releases he was putting out and so he convinced his friend Dave to start up a label and release the Scare Tactic demo on vinyl.
So... did Jonah's dad meet Black Sabbath (and not know who they were)?
Jonah: It was actually Jesse's dad who met them I think. He worked in television here, for the CBC as a producer on the big evening news program. I imagine he inadvertently rubbed elbows with a lot of people. If it wasn't him it might have been James' dad, who was an inventor....seems unlikely that a guy who pioneered something to do with windsurfing would have accidentally met Black Sabbath, but who can say.
"Live at CIUT" (Radio Session / DIY CD)
CD Artwork images courtesy of Stephe Perry
Notes:
EXD Zine Nov 2001
Listen
The Three Scare Tactic Songs are exclusive to this release:
Bullets For Breakfast
Gun Control
Sick Of Fun
Jonah: Jesse, Robert, and I were all in school together. James was their neighbourhood friend. The three of them were in a band called BSE and had been playing pop punk shows since a really young age. Jesse and I were in a history class together, he asked me to join their band on guitar. Our first "show" was at high school, opening for a German pop-rock band called "Die Sterne" who came and did a big outdoor gig for the student body c/o the German dept (who the hell knows why...probably something to do with Oktoberfest). The set was all covers.
Jonah joined BSE in 1997 or 1998, the band later changed its name to As One, referencing the song by NYHC band Warzone. As One recorded a four song CD "No Less An Authority"circa 2000, then "sowhatifi'mafuckingdemo" during the winter of 2000. The demo was recorded in Jesse's basement, by his uncle and released on cassette.
Jonah: We changed the name to As One to write more metallic, straight edge hc type songs (FTR, I was never straight edge). Demo was written as we were getting more in to the local hc scene and hearing a lot more music across the eras of punk and hc. When the demo was going to be pressed to vinyl, we switched the name over to Scare Tactic.
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| Scare Tactic: Jonah on Guitar, James on Bass... |
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| ...and vocalist Jesse, who would later play drums for Career Suicide (Pictures from Solomon Method Records) |
Scare Tactic recorded a Studio 3 session for Equalizing-X-Distort in November 2001 and the vinyl version of the demo was released the following month. At this point, Jonah had also started playing guitar for Career Suicide and drums for Fucked Up; the artwork on the 7" record labels is by Damian and members of both CS & FU are thanked in the insert notes, alongside other names familiar in the Toronto punk scene.
The band continued for a short while longer, recording three new tracks in August 2002, for the Toronto City Omnibus comp, released the following year.
As One / Scare Tactic Discography
"No Less An Authority" (4 song CD)
CD Artwork images courtesy of Stephe Perry
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| Front panel |
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| Back panel |
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| Tray panel |
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| Lyrics + Jesse & Jonah pics: The opening lines of Track 1 are included on Fucked Mixtape 5 |
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| Lyrics + James & Robert pics. |
Notes:
Exclaim! Review (Feb 2001): Angsty Toronto teens play old style hardcore on this decent debut. There's four songs on this, one of which is a cover of Warzone's "United Worldwide." The others feature tough guy lyrics, like on "It's Time," ("Think you'll fuck with me? I'll fuck with you. Think I'm locked down? It's coming back for you.") Juxtaposed with this are photos of the band members, one of whom is a cherubic lad who looks like a more like a wallflower at a grade eight dance. Despite all this, their sound still packs a pretty good wallop. (Independent)
"sowhatifi'mafuckingdemo" (Cassette)
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| Demo Cassette |
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| As One "Demo" Review: From Equalizing x Distort Zine #1 (October 2001) |
"Scare Tactic" (Demo 7")
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| Sleeve - Front: The sleeve is a single sheet of folded glossy paper, the reverse is blank |
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| Sleeve - Back |
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| Vinyl - 'A' Side S&T artwork by Damian Abraham |
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| Vinyl - 'B' Side Plain black labels most / all? have different messages handwritten in silver ink |
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| Insert - Front: Cropped A4 photocopy with lyrics |
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| Insert - Back: Cropped A4 photocopy with lyrics, credits and band pic |
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| Extract from insert: |
Stats:
Released: 2001
Tracks:
A: PS I Love You / Step Right Up / Our Voice, Pro Choice / Lies / Smile, Dammit
B: Push My Luck / First To Fall / Know It Snot / Walk The Dogma / Devils Night / My Dad Met Black Sabbath And Didn't Know Who They Were
Label: Solomon Records
Matrix A: SM-01-A
Matrix B: SM-01-B
Pressing Info: 800
Inserts: Regular A4 insert as pictured above
Variants: Handwritten labels
Notes:
The Scare Tactic 7" has the same recordings as the "sowhatifi'mafuckingdemo" cassette, apart from one track; a Sons of Ishmael cover which is on the cassette only.
From Solomon Records: Our first release is a killer 7" EP from Toronto's SCARE TACTIC, released December 14, 2001. SCARE TACTIC play fast, raw hardcore that lies somewhere between pure early '80's stuff and the recent thrash resurgence-- lots of energy and power, with smart lyrics to seal the deal. Formerly called AS ONE, the band released these songs as a demo that impressed everyone that heard it and just demanded to be pressed on wax. There are 11 songs on the EP, and 800 were pressed.
Jonah: I think most of the silver ink handwriting (on the labels) was Dave "Last" Partridge, the guy who released it. "Solomon Method" his label, is named in reference to a method of eating hot dogs really quickly that I think some Japanese guy invented around 1999 when, I suppose, eating contests were on people's minds.
Stephe Perry: Simon Harvey was one of the co-hosts and founders of EXD and he had started a record label at the time called Ugly Pop Records. He was trying to put out local records, once every month. But he was over extended with the number of releases he was putting out and so he convinced his friend Dave to start up a label and release the Scare Tactic demo on vinyl.
So... did Jonah's dad meet Black Sabbath (and not know who they were)?
Jonah: It was actually Jesse's dad who met them I think. He worked in television here, for the CBC as a producer on the big evening news program. I imagine he inadvertently rubbed elbows with a lot of people. If it wasn't him it might have been James' dad, who was an inventor....seems unlikely that a guy who pioneered something to do with windsurfing would have accidentally met Black Sabbath, but who can say.
"Live at CIUT" (Radio Session / DIY CD)
CD Artwork images courtesy of Stephe Perry
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| Front Panel (Front) |
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| Front Panel (Back) |
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| Back Panel |
Notes:
EXD Zine Nov 2001
Listen
"Toronto City Omnibus"
Scare Tactic contributed 3 new songs to this compilation LP released in 2003 by Schizophrenic Records. There will be a separate page relating to this LP, in the meantime, here's an image taken from the booklet that comes with the LP:
The Three Scare Tactic Songs are exclusive to this release:
Bullets For Breakfast
Gun Control
Sick Of Fun
