Tranzmitors + Guests!- The American, Vancouver, BC: April 11, 2026

 

 

Opening for the Young Fresh Fellows in Vancouver was, the Tranzmitors who are comprised of many veterans of the local rock scene. I don't believe they've released a full album of new material in almost 20 years, but there was a promise of a new record and along the way there's been singles and even a collaboration with Lisa Marr, from CUB for a 7"er in 2019. The lineup of the band that played the American on April 11th, included a few former-Smugglers including guitarist, Nick Thomas. The day of the show, the local music paper, Georgia Straight, featured an article about Thomas that covered a lot of material, along with a brief history about the bands he's performed in. An interesting, informative read from a really good publication (I wish Winnipeg had a decent local music paper!) that also published a couple of pieces a day earlier about, Kurt Bloch and the Young Fresh Fellows (it mentioned the 1991 Hoodoo Gurus/YFF Winnipeg show/incident I wrote about last post), all written by Allan MacInnis (he writes a great blog). The blog has a review of the show with much more pro photos.

 

  

What caught my attention with the Tranzmitors set was the promise of special guests, Grant Lawrence and Andrew Molloy. I would consider the Smugglers and BUM, two of my favourite Canadian bands, who released some truly classic albums, Selling The Sizzle and Wanna Smash Sensation . It was through the Popllama mail order catalog that I first heard about BUM and ordered WSS, based on the fact it was produced by Kurt Bloch and the Smugglers, In The Hall of Fame CD. Hearing some of those songs again with Lawrence and Molloy backed by the Tranzmitors was definitely a highlight. I would love to see a BUM/Smugglers show in the future and I would seriously consider traveling back to the West Coast to see it!

 

 

The recording turned out okay, the vocals were a little hard to make out at times, but mainly it sounds good. Overall, I'm glad I recorded the set! Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with the Tranzmitors to know the names of some of the songs on their setlist. If anyone can figure out the song titles (tracks 2-5, 7), it would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to coming back to Vancouver in the near future, it's been too long!

Enjoy!

 

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

 

TRANZMITORS
The American
Vancouver, BC
April 11, 2026
Audience Master

Sony ECM-DS70P mic> Tascam DR-07> SD card > 16 bit Wav>
Direct Wave MP3 splitter> FLAC> rar

01. Dancing In The Front Row
02. Post Atomic
03. Round And Round
04. Mod Shop
05. Blame In Oni Boy ?
06. Beating Up My Heart
07. Easy Inside
08. Look What You're Doing To Me
09. Instant Kool Ayd (BUM)
10. Your Disciple (BUM)
11. <banter- Grant Lawrence>
12. To Serve, Protect And Entertain (The Smugglers)
13. She Ain't No Egyptian (The Smugglers)
14. Stay with Me (The Dictators)

Special guests:
Track 9, 10- Andrew Molloy- lead vocals
Tracks 12, 13- Grant Lawrence- lead vocals, Beez- backing vocals
Track 14- Molloy, Lawrence, Beez

 

TRANZMITORS- 2026-04-11 The American, Vancouver, BC FLAC Master. rar

Day 8: The Smugglers- 10th Anniversary Party 1998

Poster image lifted from Grant Lawrence's book, Dirty Windshields

I couldn't resist, here's another live recording from the Smugglers when they celebrated their 10th anniversary at the Starfish Room in their hometown of Vancouver back in 1998. This a spin-off of the last three posts of bands that shared the stage with the Smugglers on tours and incidentally, the Donnas were one of the bands that opened this show. The show also celebrated the release of the live album, Growing Up Smuggler, a tenth anniversary album, that was kind of a live greatest hits that was recorded in Madrid, Spain. Why have all the cool bands from the west coast released a live album recorded in Spain? Off the top of my head I can think of several besides the Smugglers, Young Fresh Fellows, Bum, the Posies, Model Rockets...(psst!...more of the YFF's in Spain upcoming)

 
The sound quality on this CBC RadioSonic broadcast is top notch, so it's a nice compliment to the live Spain CD, that was produced by Fastback/YFF, Kurt Bloch. I recorded this straight from the radio directly to cassette tape and I only recently had a listen and thought it was too good not to share along with the less than ideal sounding live show I was at in 1996. Let me know if there are any glitches to the transfer, it's an old tape that probably hadn't been played in almost 30 years. Speaking of 30 years, the Smugglers are celebrating their 30th anniversary (proof time is flying by, fast!) with a show on November 24th at Amigo's in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and unfortunately for those fans outside of Saskatchewan this is their only show in 2018. I thought it was a bit odd they chose Saskatoon as the site for their 30th anniversary party (instead of Vancouver or Winnipeg??), but when I read chapter ten of Grant's tour diaries book, Dirty Windshields I understood better. It's a nice tribute to a venue that treated the band well in the early days and it became a welcoming venue for the band. I'm considering making the road trip north (6-8 hours away?), but slightly concerned about late November prairie weather on the highway. Chixdiggit is opening, another band I saw numerous times in the 90's, so the bill is solid. I urge you if you have the funds and you're a fan of the Smugglers of Chixdiggit, it would be well worth the trip.
Enjoy!!
#12daysoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or convert to lossy formats (except for personal use)
Please share!

THE SMUGGLERS
Starfish Room
Vancouver, BC
September 19, 1998
FM Broadcast Master

CBC RadioSonic radio> Maxell XLII 90 Cassette> Aiwa tape deck> ADS Instant music> usb> Nero SoundTrax> WAV> Direct WAV splitter> FLAC> rar

01. Rock With the Smugglers
02. Bishy-Bishy!
03. Action
04. Up And Down
05. Pebble Beach
06. Hey, Stephanie!
07. Shakedown!
08. Whiplash!
09. Rock Thy Neighbor
10. Pick 'Em Up Truck
11. The B 'n' I
12. She's A Machine
13. What's The Matter With Me (?)
14. She Ain't No Egyptian
15. To Serve, Protect And Entertain
16. Outro

THE SMUGGLERS- 1998-09-19 Starfish Room, Vancouver, BC FLAC. rar

Day 4: The Smugglers Live In Winnipeg "No-Hit Rock 'n' Roll!"

This summer I spent two relaxing weeks up at the cottage and as in past years I caught up on my reading for the year. I typically don't have time or more realistically don't make time to read books while I'm in the city, more specifically when I have internet access. Our cottage can't get a TV signal, barely receives a cell phone signal and definitely do not have wi-fi. We do have electricity, running water and a phone line, but for the most part we have to make our own fun, like board/card games, handheld and phone video games, DVDs, swimming, hiking and reading. The cabin is jam packed with shelves of vintage books (mainly sci-fi), but I choose to bring a selection of books and magazines I've been stockpiling the rest of the year since I have loads of time on my hands. This year, by coincidence the books and mags were all music related, mainly non-fiction (plus one fiction re-read, High Fidelity). I finished a book I started earlier in the year, How Music Got Free- A Story of Obsession and Invention by Stephen Witt. I found this book very fascinating, as it follows the birth of the mp3 and how it revolutionized the music business and how it changed how we access music either through buying CD's, pirating music, downloading and streaming. It's a behind the scenes look through the vantage points of some of the players in the industry, the inventors of the mp3, a top music executive, a worker at a CD manufacturing plant, a leaker and the creators of many music pirating download sites. It intrigued me because I lived this life, I saw and participated in many of these practices seeking leaked  pre-releases, and shared music through many p2p sites uploading and downloading a lot of music. Personally, it brought back a lot of memories and it was a game changer for me because it increased my interest (and obsession) like nothing else and opened the door to music I wouldn't have otherwise sampled. I still buy a tremendous amount of vinyl, CDs and tapes and I subscribe to one music streaming site, but I still get a lot of music through file sharing and downloading. Anyways, this book is an interesting read, it's both entertaining and educational for the music fan and for anyone interested in the business of the music industry.

A book I was itching to read for months was the rock biography about the Vancouver band, The Smugglers, Dirty Windshields- The Best and Worst of The Smugglers Tour Diaries written by lead singer, Grant Lawrence. I usually don't read rock bios, but it caught my attention because the Smugglers were a band I saw on several occasions back in the 90's and when I was flipping through the book in the bookstore, I found a chapter a about their Winnipeg incident, (sorta) opening for the Young Fresh Fellows and Hoodoo Gurus at the U of M campus. I won't go into details (you have to buy the book), but I was at that show (another life-changing moment, seeing the Fellows for the first time live!) and I didn't realize the circumstances of why the Smugglers were bumped from the bill. A funny story from earlier that day, I took off from work for a couple of hours because the Fellows were advertised to play a noon hour set at University Centre. Disappointingly, they weren't playing, but instead a galoshes wearing band was taking the stage. My disappointment was soothed a couple songs in, these guys were amazing! It was the Smugglers! They were energetic, jumping around on stage and they played some straight-up rock 'n' roll that impressed the crap out of me. I remember  very little response from the student crowd and I might have been the only one that watched their whole set. I was hooked! I saw them a few years later in 1995 at the Pyramid on a week night and once again the crowd was small and uninterested. In fact, I seated myself dead centre at the edge of the dance floor with no one in front or around me, seriously? One of the things I took notice from the book is how many great bands the Smugglers played with on tour. Apart from the Fellows, the Smuggs played with and/or toured with Cub, the Donnas, the Gruesomes, Mudhoney, the Posies, Fastbacks, the Queers, Supersnazz and the Mr. T Experience to name just some of the bands mentioned in the book. Though there is an official soundtrack (best of The Smugglers) for the book available (digital only), the next few posts will be an unofficial "tour" soundtrack featuring live recordings of some of the previously mentioned bands.

The live recording for this post is taken from a Smugglers show from 1996 at the non-defunct Wellington's bar in Winnipeg. Opening for the Smugglers was Duotang (from Winnipeg) and fellow Lookout recording artists, the Mr. T Experience. I went primarily because I love MTX and I've always wanted to see them live, but all three bands were excellent. The bar was jammed packed (it's not a large venue), but thinking back it wasn't a bad place to see a band. I recorded the show on my recording Walkman and I transferred the cassette to digital on my hard-drive. The fidelity isn't high and the crowd noise is definitely present, but it has that "I'm in the middle of a crowded bar" feel to it and after listening to the tape for the first time in years it sounds pretty good. This is the first time this show has been shared, I'm almost positive no one else taped it, so it's a nice historical document of the Smugglers on tour...in Winnipeg.
Enjoy!
#12daysoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or convert to lossy format (except for personal use)
Please share!

THE SMUGGLERS
Wellington's
Winnipeg, MB
May 22, 1996
AUD Master

Sony mic> Sony WM-GX35 Recording Walkman> Maxell XLII 90 Cassette> Aiwa tape deck> ADS Instant music> usb> Nero SoundTrax> WAV> Direct WAV splitter> FLAC> rar

01. Rock With The Smugglers
02. Smokin' Monkey
03. Make You Mine
04. Big Trouble
05. ??
06. Especially You
07. Keep On
08. She Ain't No Egyptian
09. The B'n'L
10. Bishy-Bishy!
11. Alan Thicke
12. Whiplash
13. Vancouver, BC
14. Stop! Look! Listen!
15. Kiss Like A Nun
16. Rock 'N' Roll Was Never This Fun
17. Rock with The Smugglers

Encore
18. To Serve, Protect And Entertain
19. Supercar

Not 100% sure about the song titles on the setlist, if you identify the missing song (s), let me know.

THE SMUGGLERS- 1996-05-22 Wellington's, Winnipeg, MB FLAC. rar

Oh Canaduh!

The tribute to (belated) Canada Day continues with a fine compilation, Oh Canaduh, which features some excellent bands from Canada, the US and beyond (Japan). Cover songs from bands from the late 70's and early 80's Vancouver punk scene, such as DOA (Disco Sucks), K-Tels (I Hate Music), Modernettes (Won't Have To Worry) and Viletones (Screaming Fist).

Many of the bands on this compilation have been featured here on Teenage Dogs, so you know I appreciate this collection. I'm not certain, but I think most of these tracks are/or were exclusive to this release, so it makes this even more special and essential. A fine soundtrack to your Canada Day (or Independence Day) and the rest of your summer!!
Enjoy!

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Oh Canaduh! (1996)

1. Teengenerate - Top Down
2. Bum - Screaming Fist
3. Lord High Fixers - Fuck You
4. Tonics - I Hate Music
5. Young Fresh Fellows - Disco Sucks
6. Smugglers - What Do You Want Me To Do
7. Al Perry - Fun While It Lasts
8. Fastbacks - Won't Have To Worry
9. Supersnazz - I Don't Like You
10. Evaporators - I Can't Puke
11. Man Or Astroman - Eisenhower & The Hippies
12. Onyas - I Don't Give A Shit
13. Cryin' Out Louds - Now I Ain't Got No Face
14. Stupes - American Bandstand

VARIOUS ARTISTS- Oh Canaduh!. rar