Nomeansno | |
|---|---|
 Nomeansno live inTampere, Finland, in 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1979–2016 |
| Labels | Wrong,Alternative Tentacles, AntAcidAudio,Southern,Psyche Industry Records,Cargo Records |
| Past members | |
Nomeansno (sometimes stylized asNoMeansNo or spelledNo Means No) was a Canadianpunk rock band formed inVictoria, British Columbia, and later relocated toVancouver. They released 11 albums, including acollaborative album withJello Biafra, and numerous EPs and singles. Critic Martin Popoff described their music as "the mightiest merger between the hateful aggression ofpunk and the discipline ofheavy metal."[1] Nomeansno's distincthardcore punk sound, complex instrumentation,[2] and dark, "savagely intelligent" lyrics inspired subsequent musicians. They were a formative influence onpunk jazz,post-hardcore,[3][4]math rock, andemo.[5]
Formed in 1979 by brothersRob andJohn Wright, they began as a two-piece punk band influenced byjazz andprogressive rock.[6] They self-released their debutMama LP in 1982, added guitaristAndy Kerr the following year, and signed withAlternative Tentacles. Kerr departed in late 1991 after five LPs with the band, and the group returned to its two-piece formation for theWhy Do They Call Me Mr. Happy? album.
GuitaristTom Holliston, and briefly second drummerKen Kempster, joined in 1993. After three further LPs, they left Alternative Tentacles and issued their final album,All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt, in 2006. The Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame inducted them in 2015,[7] and they retired the following year.
In 1979 and at age 25,Rob Wright returned to his family's home inVictoria after studying inCalgary.[8]John, Rob's younger brother by eight years, played drums in the school jazz band, and the two were inspired to play punk rock after seeingD.O.A. perform at theUniversity of Victoria.[9] They began rehearsing in their parents' basement,[8] and took the name Nomeansno from an anti-date rape slogan on a graffitied wall.[10][9] They also briefly gigged as the rhythm section for local cover band Castle.[8]
Nomeansno recorded its earliest material in the months that followed on aTASCAM four-track recorder, with Rob playing electric guitar and bass, John playing keyboards and drums, and both brothers singing. Some of these recordings were issued as their first two self-released 7"s, the "Look, Here Come the Wormies / SS Social Service" single (a 1980 split with Mass Appeal, whose recording lineup featured both Wright Brothers), and theBetrayal, Fear, Anger, Hatred EP of 1981.
The brothers began performing live as a bass-and-drums duo in 1981.[11] John later reflected on their sound's development:
...without a guitar player you can't rely on the standard hooks that punk rock and rock n' roll in general relies on. The guitar player – the guitar god quote unquote – was such a focus for so long that by the nature of not having a guitar player, the bass and the drums have to do a lot more. It also makes the vocals more important, or at least it makes a lot more room for the vocals. You don't have guitar solos, you don't have the wash of high end. And the things you do on the drums are different, if you just did a straight four beat on the drums it would get kinda dull after a while. It isn't as though bass guitar hasn't been a prominent instrument at times in other bands but it made us approach things differently, our song structure couldn't just be verse-chorus-verse. It had everything to do with how our sound got off to a unique start.[12]
They self-released theMama LP in a limited pressing in 1982. Writing forTrouser Press, critic Ira Robbins describedMama and the early 7"s as "Devo on a jazz trip,Motörhead after art school, orWire on psychotic steroids."[13] John also joined the Victoria punk band the Infamous Scientists.[8]
The Infamous Scientists disbanded in 1983, and their guitarist and vocalistAndy Kerr joined Nomeansno several months later.[9][14][8] Initially a guest and later full member, Kerr played with a buzz-saw guitar tone via aFender Bassman amplifier and P.A. speaker. Nomeansno became a fixture in the British Columbia punk scene despite not conforming to the punk sound. TheYou Kill Me EP in 1985 on Undergrowth Records contained experimental songs like "Body Bag" and a cover of "Manic Depression" byJimi Hendrix. The three also began performingRamones covers and more traditional punk music asthe Hanson Brothers, a side project that would later receive more attention.
Issued initially byMontreal'sPsyche Industry label,[8] the band releasedSex Mad, their second LP and first with Kerr. The album further expanded the band's experimental and progressive punk sound, yielding the single "Dad". The song was a minorcollege radio hit, whichAllMusic reviewer Adam Bregman called "a bit chilling, even though it's spit out atslam-pit's pace".[15] Kerr, the song's lead vocalist, increasingly became responsible for lead vocals as Rob Wright suffered from nodules on his vocal cords.
They signed with seminal punk labelAlternative Tentacles, run byJello Biafra of theDead Kennedys. This, along with frequent touring in North America and Europe, helped the band gain a larger audience. In 1988, the group issued two releases recorded with producer Cecil English:The Day Everything Became Nothing EP and theSmall Parts Isolated and Destroyed album. Alternative Tentacles compiled the two together on a single CD,The Day Everything Became Isolated and Destroyed. AllMusic reviewer Sean Carruthers called the experimental recordings "less aggressive" than, but nonetheless worthy of, the band's previous efforts.[16]
Rob Wright's vocal cords began to heal, and he resumed acting as lead vocalist. In 1989, they issued their fourth album,Wrong, to wide critical acclaim.[8] For AllMusic, Carruthers wrote that "[t]he playing is incredibly skilled;"[2] critic Martin Popoff in writing forThe Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal calledWrong the band's best album and rated the album 10 out of 10 points.[1] The band's extensive touring in support of the record is documented on theLive + Cuddly album, recorded in Holland in 1990. John later reported that circa 1990 the band became profitable enough that "we didn't have to have day jobs."[12]
The band released a collaborative LP with Biafra,The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy, in 1991. Shortly thereafter, they issued0 + 2 = 1, their fifth album and final release with Kerr. In a mixed review, AllMusic critic Adam Bregman praised0 + 2 = 1 for its finer moments, but was concerned about its length and ponderousness.[17]
Kerr departed after touring in support of the record and emigrated to the Netherlands. He went on to release two LPs withHissanol, a collaboration with Scott Henderson of Shovlhed. He subsequently released a solo album in 1997 before forming the duoTwo Pin Din with Wilf Plum ofDog Faced Hermans in 2005.
The Wright brothers focused on their side project, the Hanson Brothers. Dressing as a group of Canadianice hockey players and fans, they derived the band's name and personae from characters in the 1977George Roy Hill filmSlap Shot starringPaul Newman. John acted as lead vocalist, and guitaristTom Holliston of theShowbusiness Giants joined. With encouragement from Alternative Tentacles,[8] the Hanson Brothers issuedGross Misconduct in 1992. Drummer Ken Jensen of D.O.A. completed the live lineup.
Rob began performing solo as Mr. Wrong, appearing as a character dressed as an authoritarian priest. John became a member of D.O.A. for several years. The brothers also continued to expand Wrong Records, their own imprint.
In 1993, the brothers assembled material for a sixth Nomeansno LP and recordedWhy Do They Call Me Mr. Happy? as a duo. AllMusic critic Ned Raggett later praised the album's balance, arguing that it reached dark and sinister depths while also exhibiting subtler and more introspective moments.[18] The Wrights also released the collectionMr. Right & Mr. Wrong: One Down & Two to Go, comprising early demos, studio outtakes, and additional material.
Holliston joined Nomeansno for touring in support ofWhy Do They Call Me Mr. Happy?, and second drummerKen Kempster joined later in 1993 to complete their first four-piece lineup. Kempster went on to tour sporadically with Nomeansno over the next four years.
Holliston and Kempster debuted onThe Worldhood of the World (As Such), released in 1995. With a title from philosopherMartin Heidegger'sBeing and Time, the album featured simpler and more melodic songs than its predecessors[19] while nonetheless retaining the band's "taste for blood and gristle."[13] After focusing briefly on the Hanson Brothers and releasing the LPSudden Death, Nomeansno followed with the EPsWould We Be Alive? andIn the Fishtank 1, each featuring a cover of "Would We Be Alive?" bythe Residents.
They issued their eighth studio album, the double LPDance of the Headless Bourgeoisie, in 1998. The album featured some of their longest songs and received mixed, but generally positive, reviews. In a retrospective review, AllMusic critic Tom Schulte praised the album in its experimental tone as "dark and unforgettable, poignant and cutting."[20] A critic writing forThe A.V. Club, however, dismissed the album as "dull, meandering punk" and likened the band pejoratively toRush.[21]
The band issued its final Alternative Tentacles album,One, in 2000. Featuring a slowstoner rock cover of the Ramones's "Beat on the Brat" and a fifteen-minute version ofMiles Davis's "Bitches Brew" with electric piano and congas, the album was well received. AllMusic's Schulte assessed the album as "intense and heavy collegiate punk" as praised it as the band's finest effort sinceWrong.[22] Three outtakes from the album were also issued as theGeneric Shame EP on Wrong.
The band left Alternative Tentacles in 2002, mainly due to concerns about record distribution in Europe where their most devoted fan base lived. They began slowly reissuing their back catalogue through Wrong and distributorsSouthern Records. With new drummer Ernie Hawkins, the Hanson Brothers released their third album,My Game, later that year. Nomeansno continued touring extensively, but ultimately took six years to release their next album. In the meantime, they issued the best-of compilationThe People's Choice.
Their tenth studio album,All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt, was released on August 22, 2006, by AntAcidAudio in the United States and Southern in Europe. AllMusic critic Jo-Ann Greene praised the album's exhausting diversity as befitting of the band's legacy and career-spanning accomplishments.[23] Greene wrote that with the record Nomeansno travel "yet again through the undergrowth and underbelly of the rock realm, and with all the piss and vinegar that they started out with a quarter century ago."[23]
The band toured frequently in the years that followed, but ceased recording albums.Fang drummer Mike Branum joined the Hanson Brothers in 2008.[8] In 2010, Nomeansno digitally released outtakes and demos from the0 + 2 = 1 sessions as0 + 2 = 1 ½. They next released two four-track EPs,Tour EP 1 (alternatively known asOld) andTour EP 2 (alternativelyJubilation). They continued performing live through 2013, and toured as the Hanson Brothers in the following year with Byron Slack on drums going on hiatus.
Holliston continued to perform with the Showbusiness Giants and release solo albums, while John Wright began working as musical director for the all-robot rock bandCompressorhead. In 2015, Nomeansno was inducted into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame.[7] They played an acoustic set at the awards ceremony, and a Ramones cover set (with Slack on drums) on New Year's Eve, which became their final public appearances. Holliston announced his departure from the band in August 2016. On September 24, John Wright announced the band's official retirement.[24]
Wrong was named the public vote winner of the Polaris Heritage Prize at the2021 Polaris Music Prize.[25] In December 2023,PM Press released the band's authorized biography,NoMeansNo: From Obscurity to Oblivion: An Oral History, written by radio host Jason Lamb. The book features interviews with all five band members, as well as friends, family, fellow musicians, and fans.[26]
In 2023 John Wright's solo project Dead Bob issued the albumLife Like and toured in its support with a live band featuringFord Pier and other musicians.[27]
In 2024, Nomeansno returned to Alternative Tentacles for distribution of their recording, along with remastered editions ofWrong and the 1987 single "Dad/Revenge".
Studio albums[edit]
Collaborative albums[edit]
Live albums[edit]
EPs[edit]
Singles[edit]
| Compilations[edit]
Bootlegs[edit]
Compilation appearances[edit]
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[...]Something broke within Nomeansno following their masterstroke some 17 years ago (and it is that, one of the most aggressive and powerful opuses in post-hardcore ever made), and it hasn't properly healed. [...]
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