After the move to Toronto, in 1985 SCW released the compilation cassette tape “A Collection”. This consisted of greatest hits from the first two tapes and selected recordings from their live shows. We won’t post any audio here because it’s documented in previous posts.
Between 1985-1986 the members of SCW finished their studies at the University of Waterloo and headed to the big city. PnrH and dWM were the first to leave, followed later by Roba and Jeff-o. PhrH and dWM embarked on a series of side projects, and SCW played a few one-off gigs, but no new SCW material was recorded during this time. Jeff-o, PnrH and dWM ended up living in a house together in a seedy part of downtown Toronto, but practice/recording space was limited to a tiny section of the slug-infested basement. By this time SCW had sold off all their analog synths and drum machines and were starting to use ‘real’ instruments (drums, guitar, bass, sax etc.) and were also experimenting with some of the new digital technology that was becoming affordable.
In 1984 SCW managed to gain access to the video production facilities at the local cable station. This resulted in a series of experimental videos created by PhrH and dWM. For more info on these videos check out the Sucking Chest Wound YouTube channel…
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Sucking Chest Wound produced this video in 1985 to promote their first two cassette releases: Arbeit Macht Frei and Model 152 Blowgun. Unfortunately the video didn’t do much to boost sales, probably because it received zero airplay…
SCW’s second release on cassette came out in mid-1985 and was a mixture of new material and live recordings from the Sweet Children of the West show in April that year. The new material continued in the same disco-funk-industrial post-punk style of the first cassette, with added horns in some tunes. This release marked the end of SCW’s use of analogue synths, drum machines and tapes – all future work was done using either ‘real’ instruments played live or digital samplers and effects.
Bass, tapes and drum machine…
On April 17 1985 SCW returned to the Mayfair Hotel in Kitchener, Canada for another performance. This time they performed upstairs at a club called Level 21. For reasons that aren’t entirely clear they performed as Sweet Children of the West; the name would be resurrected later on when they were banned from performing as Sucking Chest Wound. The focus of the show was on videos prepared beforehand and played back on video monitors located throughout the performance space, along with slides projected onto the stage. SCW performed largely behind screens, occasionally venturing out onto the stage to tweak knobs etc.
Hey kids here’s your chance to own a vintage SCW “Mind Control” T-shirt!
We produced these shirts for our final show in 1997. There’s still a limited number of mint condition shirts available. We lost the original artwork so there won’t be any more after these run out!
Available in two sizes, shipping included:
Large: for twinks, hipsters and girls
X-Large: for everyone else
Click on the PayPal button below to purchase. Be sure to specify L or XL
