SCW’s God, Family, Country show was performed on November 9, 1989 at Toronto’s venerable Music Gallery as part of the 20th Century and how to leave it series curated by Myke Dyer.

Poster for the God Family Country show (designed by PnrH)

The show was based on a series of videos SCW had prepared in advance. There were three sections, one for each topic: God, Family and Country. Each section began with a taped introduction by SCW collaborator Charles ‘Militant’ Doubt, plus a CGI animated intro (pretty advanced for 1989).

For the show the pre-recorded videos were processed and animated live with Amiga computers operated by SCW collaborators Bruce Becker and Catherine Willson, accompanied with sequenced and improvised musical performances by SCW. Because the main focus of the show was the live processed video, the three band members were set up at the back of the darkened hall wearing their Who Shot the Pope? hats, which were created – as always – by SCW’s wardrobe designer Cathie Whittaker.

Here’s some photos from the show (taken with flash – the hall was actually dark):

Although SCW had planned on recording the GFC show, someone (R.I.P. GBH) accidentally unplugged the video recorder right before the show began, so there’s no record of the performance as the audience experienced it. There is however a live audio recording which was made separately. To give a taste of the performance, the following clips show the pre-recorded video clips along with the live audio.

Here are the pre-recorded intros for the GFC show along with the live audio:

Each of the three members of SCW wrote tunes addressing each of the topics of God, Family, and Country. Here is the pre-recorded video for dWM’s “Who Shot the Pope?” (part of the God section) along with the live audio:

Here is the pre-recorded video for Jeff-0’s “Mary Dear” (part of the Family section) along with the live audio:

Here is the pre-recorded video for Roba’s “That’s Wrong!” (also part of the Family section) along with the live audio: