This one is both for the New Wave fans and The Weeknd fans!
High-res
I picked this up off the stage when The Ramones played the El Mocambo.
High-res
I didn’t save a lot from my punk rock days (first wave) but I did manage to keep these buttons.
High-res
This is me around 1982. Terribly new wave. I loved that hat.
The explosion of energy and creativity that was the punk/new wave movement between 1977 and 1987 fundamentally changed my life. The DIY ("Do It Yourself") attitude, the openness to new ideas and invention, and the wonderful otherness of sub-cultures have been cornerstones of my approach to life ever since. I'm very thankful to all the artists who supercharged my teen years even if they were only making records so they could get laid.
I was a punk at a distance, living in Waterloo Canada, and viewing the punk explosion through the words and pictures in the New Music Express, Sounds and The Face magazines. Through the lens of music videos on shows like The New Music, and through obscure imported vinyl purchases at Records on Wheels and Record World in Kitchener and The Record Peddler in Toronto. We were lucky enough to have bands play Toronto and sometimes Waterloo.
My goal here is to share a very personal version of punk and new wave. These are the bands, the images, the videos, the sounds, the moments that represent this time in my life. I hope that sharing my youth with today's youth will have some value. If not, screw you, I'm doing what I want and I don't care.
