Canadian Music Trade - December/January 2019 | Page 19
DAVE DYSART (FAR RIGHT) WITH UIC
Classic Canadian Punk Outfit UIC,
Featuring HHB’s Dave Dysart, Signs with
Warner
Warner Music Canada and Like 90 Records
recently re-released two classic Canadian
garage-punk albums – Our Garage and Live
Like Ninety – from Southern Ontario’s UIC. For
the Canadian MI and audio products indus-
try, this is notable news because one of UIC’s
newest members is HHB Communications
Canada President Dave Dysart.
Originally released in the 1980s, both
albums are now available on all streaming
services for the first time and were also
re-issued on CD and vinyl. The band celebrat-
ed the re-releases with a show at This Ain’t
Hollywood in Hamilton, ON on Nov. 24.
Originally formed in 1982 in a basement
in Exeter, ON, UIC took its influences from
Detroit radio where The Stooges, MC5, and
Alice Cooper dominated the airwaves. The
original lineup – Fred “Slack” Robinson, Dave
“Smokin” Robinson, Murray Heywood, Ted
Triebner, and Dan Preszcator – took their
name from the Unemployment Insurance
Commission (since rebranded Employment
Insurance). After a few years of playing shows
in the London area, the band moved to
Toronto and became regulars on the bill at
the Siboney, the Rivoli, the Horseshoe Tavern,
and Lee’s Palace, playing alongside the likes
of The Gruesomes, Teenage Head, The Dead
Milkmen, and Deja Voodoo.
The band’s cult-classic debut, Our Garage,
was released in 1986 and has been re-mas-
tered for this reissue. Live Like Ninety, which
was recorded live at a sold-out Lee’s Palace
show on Nov. 4, 1988, captures the group’s
explosive live sound and was voted by NOW
Magazine as one of the most influential To-
ronto albums of the ‘80s. The album has been
remixed and remastered for this reissue.
By the time they disbannded in 1995,
UIC had released three full-length albums
(a fourth, The Wiseman Sessions, was lost for
almost 20 years when the tapes were finally
recovered, mixed, and released). Over the
next few years, band members pursued vari-
ous musical paths and in 1999 four of the five
band members joined forces as The Chickens.
By 2006, they all went their separate ways.
Flash forward to 2016 and UIC, joined
by Dysart on guitar, reunited to headline an
Oshawa benefit in memory of local rock pro-
moter and Star Records founder Mike Shulga.
Spurred on by Dysart’s enthusiasm, the band
marked the 30 th anniversary of Our Garage by
playing their first Toronto show in 20 years.
The success of those shows inspired a new
sense of creativity and the band has since
re-entered the studio to record new material
to be released on their own Like 90 Records
imprint.
For more information, go to
www.uiccanada.com.
Drummer’s Hangout Named Aurora’s Best New Business
Aurora, ON percussion shop Drummer’s Hangout has received the Best New Business
award from the Aurora Chamber of Commerce. The award was handed out on Nov.
1 st after multiple rounds of voting, with all Aurora businesses that have been open for
three years or less being eligible.
Murat Baslamisli is a drummer and long-time percussion retail specialist. The idea
of opening a store that he himself would want to visit was at the heart of his decision
to open Drummer’s Hangout in the fall of 2015. As the name implies, he sought to of-
fer more than just products for sale. “I wanted to create an environment for drummers
and prospective drummers alike,” he tells Canadian Music Trade, “where they can hang
out, have a drink, sit and watch drum DVDs from their favourite drummers, talk about
them, compare them…” It’s that environment and overall experience that differenti-
ates his shop from the many full-service MI retailers in the Greater Toronto Area.
After winning the award, Baslamisli wrote online, “We cannot tell you how proud
and humble we are for winning this prestigious award and it is because of all of you
and the good people of the town of Aurora! Even to be nominated was surreal but
actually winning this ... Madness!”
For more information, go to www.drummershangout.ca.
MURAT BASLAMISLI (MIDDLE) RECEIVING THE AWARD
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