Pointed Sticks

Pointed Sticks
Origin Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genres Punk rock
Years active 1978–1981, 2006–2012
Labels Stiff, Sudden Death, Quintessence
Members Nick Jones
Bill Napier-Hemy
Gord Nicholl
Tony Bardach
Ian Tiles
Past members Colin Griffiths
Robert Bruce
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery
Johnny Ferreira
Scott Watson

Pointed Sticks are a Canadian punk rock band from Vancouver. Originally active from 1978 to 1981, they reunited to perform in July 2006 and remained together until November 2012.

They were the first Canadian band signed to Stiff Records, although the label was going through financial problems and never released an album by the band.[1] The original band consisted of vocalist Nick Jones, guitarist Bill Napier-Hemy,[2] bassist Tony Bardach and drummer Ian Tiles. Keyboard player Gord Nicholl joined soon after. Johnny Ferreira later joined on saxophone, Bardach was replaced by Scott Watson on bass, and Tiles was replaced by drummer Robert Bruce (from Active Dog), and later by Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery. The band released four singles, (including their only Stiff records release, a 3 song 7") before releasing their first full-length album, Perfect Youth in 1980. Members of the band were featured in Dennis Hopper's 1980 film, Out of the Blue.

The first compilation of their recordings was released in 1995 on Zulu Records. "Part Of The Noise", now out of print, included five songs from the "Perfect Youth" album as well as 45's and rarities. In 2005, the complete Perfect Youth album, with 4 bonus tracks, was reissued by Sudden Death Records, followed the next year by a compilation of singles, outtakes, and other rarities, entitled Waiting for the Real Thing also on Sudden Death. These two releases do not share/repeat any tracks. The original band members reunited in 2006 for a tour of Japan, and then continued to play sporadic concerts in Canada and the United States. In 2009 the band recorded an album of all new material,"Three Lefts Make A Right", released Nov. 1 on Northern Electric records. Although advance reviews were very positive, distribution efforts and sales figures proved disappointing. The band returned to Japan in August 2010 with support from a re-united "Dishrags", their all girl contemporaries from the original Vancouver Punk scene. Pointed Sticks participated in a Vancouver benefit concert for Japan earthquake relief May 12, 2011.[3][4] "Three Lefts Make a Right" was mixed by Vancouver's Mike Fraser. The complete "Stiff Sessions" recordings were released on CD in Japan in 2008, on the Base label. A third full length album is in the works, with an anticipated release in 2014.

Name

The band gets its name from dialogue in a famous sketch by Monty Python,[5] "Self Defence Against Fresh Fruit," wherein Eric Idle repeatedly suggests that learning to defend against something like a pointed stick might be more useful than defending against fresh fruit.[6] They chose this name after discovering that their first six choices had all been taken. At the beginning of their career they were briefly known as "Ernie Dick and the Pointed Sticks".

The band were known for their fast melodic pop music and liberal use of harmony singing by all five members—also for unusual graphic images that acted as counterpoint to the music.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.suddendeath.com/reviews.html
  2. ↑ great-grandson of English painter Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) (whose last name is not hyphenated)
  3. ↑ The Pointed Sticks | Straight.com
  4. ↑ http://www.geocities.com/nowwave/rants/pointedsticks.html
  5. ↑ "Pointed Sticks- ‘Waiting For The Real Thing’".
  6. ↑ "Monty Python Sketch, ,"Self-defense Against Fresh Fruit"".

External links