“Fugazi Saved My Life: How Punk Made Me Less of an Asshole” is the latest zine from Microcosm Publishing, exploring the transformative impact of punk music. The issue focuses on a 1993 Fugazi gig, while its predecessor celebrates Yeastie Girlz, a punk band challenging societal norms. Both zines convey punk’s role in personal growth and social awareness.
Stevie Bees chats about the boost David Tennant gave to their trans-positive T-shirt brand which has enabled Stevie to infuse more positive energy into the gender-diverse community we live in through activism, bursaries, and public speaking.
Tyler Smith snagged a chance to chat with a couple of Destroy Boys members about the Sacramento music scene, psychedelics, bootlegging, and washrooms for the Punks on Pizza Podcast before they blessed the audience of the Hollywood Theatre in Vancouver with their badass sounds.
This episode features a conversation with Casey and Core, cofounders of Barrie, Ontario’s independent music label Tarantula Tapes. They talk about releasing music they love and some of the problems they have overcome regarding quality control working at a DIY level. They recommend some of their favourite releases from the label’s first three years and future releases they are hyped to bring to music lovers.
Episode 16 features a conversation with Toronto comedian Bonez Poley, who learned their performance chops in the Ontario punk and metal music scenes before crossing over into stand-up.
Poley’s debut comedy album is set for release on May 30, and in the discussion, there are hints at several other surprises to be announced soon.
On episode 13, one of the founding members and lead shouter of the renowned anarcho-punk band CRASS, Steve Ignorant, discusses the protest songs they wrote over 40 years ago, which he continues to perform.
“Sad thing is, those songs are still relevant; you’ve just got to change a few politicians’ names.”
This is the second feature in a three-part series diving into aspects of the opioid pandemic, the overdose crisis, whatever you wish to call it. It is a public health crisis which became exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Canada’s Public Health database, there was a 95 percent increase in apparent opioid toxicity deaths from April 2020 to March 2021, with a total of 7,224 deaths, compared to 3,711 deaths from April 2019 to March 2020. Since then, deaths have remained high.
These statistics were published in March 2022 and only went as far as September 2021, but by that point, 5,368 apparent opioid toxicity deaths had occurred. This is approximately 20 deaths per day. For a similar timeframe in the years before the pandemic, there were between 7 in 2016 and 12 in 2018 deaths per day.
She might seem like just another comedian who has found her way to Toronto, but as her website boasts, Bonez Poley is a multidisciplinary artist, an activist, and a seasoned adventurer who leads a colourful life.
She spoke to Woodstein Media about everything from her wild antics on and off stage fronting thrash bands to her self-deprecating humour. She offered a lot of discerning opinions in between.
About five years ago, Terry Helm had a workplace accident at a job site in Toronto.
“I was cleaning up at the end of the day and just happened to step back into a hole where I took a 21-foot fall. It ultimately resulted in my paralysis and being in a wheelchair.”
Helm may be in a wheelchair, but he stands up strong regarding his principles.
Barrie’s Beaver Slap was one of Ontario’s most exciting punk bands to emerge over the past decade, as far as Woodstein Media is concerned, but they went quiet just before the pandemic. What happened, and what are the band members doing now?
