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

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

We knew – then and there – that our next project would be a 3-part album called God Family Country and we bought up all of the available packages, to insert our own cassettes as a deluxe limited-edition release.

Having figured out the concept and the packaging, we then realized we had to actually create some music to fill those 3-cassette packages! Having also recently acquired a couple of Ensoniq EPS samplers we set about our musical task. And in the typical SCW way of doing things we decided to first present God Family Country as a live show, and then release the deluxe 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 a new dimension of consciousness. 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

In the fall of 1987 Sucking Chest Wound expanded into a five piece live disco-jazz-funk-punk band with the addition of guitar hero Scott ‘Skill’ Casey. We weren’t doing this ironically – we really loved to listen to vintage funk and disco, and to spin it at our parties! Here’s a photo gallery of the band members playing live at our 1987 New Year’s Eve show. In the background is one of PnrH’s big paintings – the same one you can see in the previous post’s studio panorama video…

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In 1987 dWM and Jeff-o rented a warehouse space off Queen St. West in Toronto. This space provided a proper rehersal studio and production facility for SCW, and also served as a space for other art and music side projects.

SCW added a new member for playing live shows: guitarist Scott “Skill” Casey, specialist in all styles. SCW at this point moved away from the free improvisational style for playing live that they’d adopted since moving to Toronto, and towards a groovy disco-funk thang. In the studio, SCW continued on in the same style as the first two cassette tape releases and the more recent side projects of PnrH and dWM.

Around this time SCW also purchased an Ensoniq EPS sampler. Although it didn’t have much of an impact on SCW’s live disco-funk music, sampling was essential to SCW’s studio recordings, and would define their style throughout the 90’s.

Here’s a panorama of the SCW warehouse space originally recorded on 8mm film