From the rubble: N.L.’s 1st punk band, Da Slyme, releasing first album in over 20 years

For St. John’s Band, which started as a joke, Da Slyme has had a huge impact on the punk rock scene both locally and across state borders.

Rare copies of their first album currently sell for over $1,000. Their records have been sought after in faraway Italy. Last year, the band was invited to exhibit their work at the new Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas.

But Da Slime’s career isn’t over yet. This summer the band will release her first album in over 20 years. This is an archival collection of never-released songs from early recording sessions in the late 70’s to live performances of the biggest gigs. .

an album called No play without debris! It will be officially released on June 2nd.

“It never surprises us,” said Wallace Hammond, the band’s lead guitarist.

“This is what we talked about over the course of this project. I’ve never played outside the overpass.”

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Formed in 1977 at Memorial College in St. John’s, Da Slyme was the first punk band from Newfoundland and Labrador.

Hammond said he and his bandmates were all part of the college radio station, and many of them were self-proclaimed “music snobs,” always listening to bands like the Sex Pistols and the Ramones.

One of Da Slyme’s bassist and guitarist, Peter Morris (his punk moniker is Stig Stilletto), said their idea of ​​starting a punk band was initially a “gag.” Morris and Hammond, with no preparation or experience, one afternoon the friends took some instruments and went to the main studio of the Memorial radio station.

Hammond says they wrote and recorded their first song that afternoon within 15 to 20 minutes. It’s the first song on their new record.

“The first take of that song opens the door to the album,” said Morris. “And he said that now, nearly 50 years later, we’ve left a trail of debris around the college and town from here like little snails.”

Da Slyme released their first record in 1980, a self-titled double vinyl album. More than 500 of his records were pressed, Morris says, and only 10 of his were out of state.

The album didn’t get much buzz when it was first released, but Morris says copies of the record are so rare these days that it sells for around $2,000 on music sites like Discogs. .

Over the course of his music career, Da Slyme released another album. 20 years of fraud, They played about 30 times over 20 years, all gigs at St. John’s.

According to Morris, the band has yet to figure out how copies of their first album were made. Daslime, I am out of Canada. They also didn’t expect to be invited to exhibit their work at the new Punk Museum in Las Vegas.

The band produced the new album with Montreal-based record label Celluloid Ranch Records. Hammond has stated that the label set up an interview with a Slovenian punk magazine.

Morris and Hammond say they never expected Da Slime to have such a broad career. Especially the one that found an international audience even though the band never left St. John’s for gigs.

As for why Da Slime is so popular, Morris says bandmate Tony Richards, better known by his punk name Roscoe Santiago, summed it up nicely.

“He said, ‘They loved us so much because we did so little,'” Morris said with a laugh. It hasn’t existed that long.”

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