As mentioned in a previous post, the whole concept for God Family Country was based on the chance discovery of a pile of 3-cassette packages found at a local surplus store. After performing the live GFC show in November 1989, the band set about recording and producing the cassette packages, which were finally released in December 1990. The recordings consisted of studio versions of all the tunes performed at the live GFC show as well as three more tunes, one each by dWM, Jeff-0 and Roba. As always, PnrH did the graphic design for the package plus the silk screening, and the cassette labels were designed by the band: God by Roba, Family by Jeff-0 and Country by dWM.

Here’s the complete package with silk screening by PhrH and cassette labels by SCW

SCW has updated their YouTube channel with completely remastered videos. When SCW originally uploaded their videos over 10 years ago YouTube was much stricter about video file sizes, resulting in lossy, poorer-quality videos compared to the source videos.This is no longer an issue, so SCW has re-uploaded their videos to YouTube, allowing them to present their videos in their original glorious quality!

Note however that many (most?) of these videos originate from pretty low-rez 80’s analog tape formats – such as VHS and U-Matic – and sometimes the videos have been further copied back and forth thru multiple generations of tape, resulting in some nasty degraded analog goodness!

Later in 1989 SCW, having shed their recent disco-jazz-funk-punk live band identity, returned to their experimental roots and embarked on a new project, with the band now based on the musical trio of Roba, dWM and Jeff-0, and with PnrH providing graphic design and Cathie Whittaker providing costume design. Also around this time SCW began their video collaboration with Bruce Becker (aka bdb) and Catherine Willson, who were experimenting with live Amiga computer graphics.

They chose the name of the next project based on something they stumbled across at the local electronics (and other junk) surplus store (R.I.P. Active Surplus). There they found a bunch of plastic fold-out 3-cassette packages titled God Family Country, by Zig Ziglar, an early self-help guru.

They decided then and there that the next SCW project would be a 3-part album called God Family Country, and so bought up all of the available packages to insert their own cassettes as a deluxe limited-edition 3-cassette package.

Having figured out the concept and the packaging, they then realized that they had to actually create some music to fill those 3-cassette packages! Having also recently acquired a couple of Ensoniq EPS samplers they set about our musical task. And in the typical SCW way of doing things they decided to first present God Family Country as a live show, and then release the deluxe 3-cassette package a year later… and the CD would be released even later!

More to come…

We are devastated to announce that dWM (d Wayne Morris) has passed from this world to another dimension of consciousness, sound, and love. Our condolences go out to his family, particularly his wonderful children, Avery and Baxter.

dWM approached everything with an intensity and creative vision that was truly unique. He was always interested in looking beyond the consensus or accepted ‘truths’ to discover the real dope on things, including politics, health and much more. It can’t be denied that this took him to some weird – although always interesting – places, but it was always with the utmost sincerity and sense of social justice. Most importantly to us, he never stopped playing music – being not only a core member of SCW but also of many other bands over the years, including Tanz Pest, Orchestra Paavola, Dub Enforcement Agency and Masters of Love and Sound. He could play any musical instrument and was always looking for something new to try – musically and otherwise…

Another key interest was community radio, which he loved as a democratic means for people to hear one another and be heard, regardless of their socioeconomic status or geographic location. He also used radio as a vehicle for art – we encourage you to check out his ground-breaking experiential radio projects.

He was an incredibly generous individual, always inviting people over for dinner, handing out homemade chocolates and hot sauces, and hosting many band rehearsals and recording sessions.

We’ll miss you brotherman…

Here’s a gallery of some rarely-seen dWM photos!

Sometime in 1988, the 5-piece version of SCW posed for photographs at their Queen St. rehearsal space. The band were rocking their silver lamé jackets (custom-made by Cathie Whittaker) plus matching silver helmets. In the background are sculptures by our friend and collaborator William T. “Bill” Francis.

Photos by Karen Young aka DJ FunKY