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Bad Bad Rock N’ Roll: |
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An amazing thing happened to me the other day. I was sorting through my
daily spattering of emails when I came across this: Hello Jeff, this is Steven R. Stunning from the legendary glam punk rock outfit known as '63 Monroe, hailing from little ol' London, Ontario, making first contact with Sleazegrinder.com. The Monroe's have been around the block once or twice and have just released a three CD retrospective of their 20-year career to date. I need to know where to send this package for your perusal so the rest of the world can get hip. We need the Sleaze. Can you help?  First
of all, I always knew that people needed the Sleaze, but I had never heard
anyone actually say it. And when someone comes calling, it’s our
duty to deliver the good stuff. Second, Steven R. Stunning and his
band ’63 Monroe are from London, Ontario.
I’m from London, Ontario. They
have a 20-year career (I read the email twice just to be sure I had it
right). I have a 20-year career (well, 26 to be exact, but close enough.
And I checked my birth certificate to be sure I had that right too). Yet,
for some bizarre reason, I had never heard of Steven R. Stunning
and ’63 Monroe. I took an emotional
hit. At first I was ashamed, struck down, utterly and completely concerned
with the fact that a giant tear had been discovered in the infinite, and
seemingly bulletproof, fabric that is my knowledge of all things rock. And
to ignore something from my own backyard was simply inexcusable. I should
have called it quits right then and there, turned off the stereo, thrown
away the record collection, and run away to join a marching band, but
something Steven R. Stunning said was sticking with me like a bad
addiction: ‘We need the Sleaze. Can you help?’ I mulled, deeply. Then it
dawned on me that I couldn’t let a fellow sleaze dealer and glitter shaker
such as Steven R. Stunning down. And if I wanted my dignity back I
was going to have to buckle down, do my research, and write the best damn
piece on ’63 Monroe and the
London, Ontario punk scene that has ever
been written. Or just get the story straight. Whatever. Let’s roll...___________________________________________________________________________________ |
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| There’s a section of downtown London known as the Talbot block. Up until a 9,000 seat sports and entertainment complex was built there two years ago, it was nothing more than a mix of empty lots, dilapidated buildings, urine-scented street urchins, and unmarked burial plots. The mass urbanization of North American culture that boomed with the babies in the late 80s and early 90s sent everyone to the outer city limits where they surrounded themselves with accountant neighbors and shopping malls. But before all that, back in the late 70s, those same baby boomers were sticking safety pins in their ears and the Talbot block was alive with seedy dives and roof-splitting loft parties. |
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And that’s where and when it started, more or less: December 23, 1977 at a
loft party in downtown London. The band was a couple of
London, Ontario
natives and London, England transplants known as
The Demics. Mayhem ensued
and the explosive performance caused the 250 loft dwellers to incite
enough damage in the streets for everyone within a two-hour drive of the
city to take notice. Although they enjoyed a brief four-year career,
The Demics’ brand of street-level, snarky punk and slicing wit was the catalyst
for the surging London punk movement. There’s no doubt that what was happening across the ocean or down NYC way
had some impact on the events unfolding in London, Ontario, but what made
the London punk movement so interesting was that of all the notable bands,
very few of them boasted experienced musicians and none of them went on to
any great fame or fortune. It was a movement that was wholly and
originally autonomous, existing in and around London, and so homegrown
that the majority of the bands that flourished during this time were once
rowdy teenagers at a Demics gig. They wrote and played for fun, fueled by
good times and good friends – no social agendas or political strife. On a
good night they packed the house, got wasted, and brought home the door.
If they were really lucky, they traveled to bigger cities or had their
songs played on the alternative University station, 94.7 CHRW. For a few
years, they turned the Talbot block and surrounding area into a diseased
hot spot, making famous places such as Fryfogles, Mingles,
The Blue Boot
(which later became The Cedar Lounge) and the York Hotel, the only club
still around today. Though it now goes by its more recognized name, Call
The Office, it is the best and only place in London to see a rock show, a
standing monument to the city’s volatile musical past. |
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So all it took was one band, some nitroglycerine, raging mob mentality, and reckless abandon for a whole whack of Tom, Dick, and Janes to pick up instruments and beat the hell out of them. The Demics had barely finished their first couple of gigs before equally snotty bands were hittin’ the scene – bands like The Regulators, The Perks, Napalm Baby’s, and The Zellots, who made heads turn because of their all-female line-up (except for the lucky dude manning the skins), a trio of punk priestesses stuck somewhere between Wendy O. and Olivia Newton John when it came to their looks, but right on target when it came to their sound. The Zellots were, according to some, the most talented and original of all the London punk bands during this time. But like The Demics before them, all of these bands never made it out of London or lasted more than a few years. Except one. |
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“You can only play so much before you’ve over saturated a market,” says
Stunning. “You’ve always got to figure out something to do to make it fun,
so that’s what we did.” Branching away from the typical London formula, ’63 Monroe starting pooling their collective inspiration to adopt a sound that showcased, more than anything else, their desire to just have fun. So, when names like Kiss, The Ramones, T-Rex, Gary Glitter, Motorhead, Alice Cooper, and the New York Dolls were bandied about, one word came to mind. |
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“Showmanship,” says Stunning. “We were always a punk band and quite well
aware of the New York Dolls and Kiss. We were always trying to do the glam
thing and it just sort of evolved. It was more about the show – sounding
good and looking good.” Suddenly, amongst the sewage, piss, and venom of punk rock clubs, a glam metal band was emerging. Image became a priority for Stunning and his mates, who were out to prove that their was a new way of having fun, namely wearing make-up, dancing in leather, and distorting preconceived ideals through a sped-up, yah-yah, gasoline and chainsaw rock show of raw originality. It was garage punk and metal mayhem all in one. “We were a ‘Fuck You’ band. Guys dressed as girls acting all macho,” explains Stunning.  ’63 Monroe was breaking the
London mold, from sound to looks to
popularity. In 1983, they released their Reign of Terror cassette, then
soon after signed with Savvy Records and released two singles, covers of
“Henry VIII” and “White Christmas.” In 1985, the band released their
second album, the highly praised Stinkin’ Out the Joint.
SOTJ is a back
alley blast of rattling cans and fists on flesh – a steady and raw groove
of chunky metal and slumbering punk. Stunning’s voice on
SOTJ is
particularly interesting, like a psychedelic Wolfman with a new wave echo
and inaudible lower east side tongue. The whole thing lacks severely in
production value, giving you a sense of what it would have been like to be
front row at The Cedar Lounge for a rock show. The success of
SOTJ took
’63 Monroe beyond
London’s borders, including a show at CBGB’s in NYC with
Johnny Blitz’s band.The 80s brought on a whole new crop of bands with a slightly different sound, the most notable being Legend Killers, Dead Rabbits, and October Crisis, but still distinctly punk and distinctly London. The scene was hotter than ever and at the heart of it all was ’63 Monroe, whose stage antics began to take on a life of their own – porno broadcasts, platform boots, nudity, coffins, smoke bombs, dry ice. ’63 Monroe was defiantly flaunting raunchy excess as though they were LA hipsters, not London overachievers. But overachievers they were, contently inventing new ways to tear up their hometown instead of going after the tainted allure of fame and fortune. In 1986, however, the ride derailed and Stunning’s right hand man, Markii Burnaway, left the band. ’63 Monroe spent the next two years evolving into a heavy metal band, going through numerous guitar players in the process. The new sound never garnered much attention and things quickly began to fizzle. Then in 1988, as if things couldn’t get any worse, Jeff “Rooster” Rooth took his own life. ’63 Monroe disbanded right after the tragedy only to reform later that year with Burnaway back in the fold. It was too little too late, however, as the band played its last show at Call The Office in August of 1990. Traces of this enigmatic and electric time and place can still be found around the city. Used record stores carrying early EPs and impossible to find singles, the ghosts of punk rock past haunting the downtown core, stories and legends of an unforgettable era. Those who lived it lived it fast and right. It wasn’t England and it wasn’t New York, but it was a scene unto its own, all frothing, filthy, and fun. It was a London that exists to me now as a world of terror and anarchy; one I would very much liked to have experienced. _______________________________________________________________________________________ |
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| And what of Steven R. Stunning and ’63 Monroe? Well, I’m happy to report that our heroes have found a new quest. The band reunited for a show back in July of 2002 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the last gig ever played at The Cedar Lounge, in which they were headliners. The reunion show featured Napalm Baby’s, October Crisis, Dead Rabbits, and others, and was recorded and released as the aptly named EP Boot to the Head. Since that time, ’63 Monroe has been inducted in to the London Ontario Music Hall of Fame and released the three CD retrospective that Stunning referred to in his email. This package, beautifully decorated in leopard print and an ink drawing of Marilyn Monroe, features a re-released version of Stinkin’ Out the Joint, and two new discs, Es Hat Uns Gut Gefallen (We Have Enjoyed Ourselves) and Christmas Time, Stand in Line. |
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They continue to play around town and plan on releasing a double album in
the near future. ’63 Monroe is still doing it, and they’re doing it with
style, proving that rock is ageless and punk is a state of mind. “You don’t have to be 22 to be in a rock n’ roll band,” says Stunning. “Most of our fans won’t come see us now. That’s logical. The heart and the history are there. I took the lumps then and took the kudos then – I got what I got ‘cause I did what I did.” There you go, my friends. And to Mr. Stunning: I hope I helped. Thanks to Dan Husband (aka Danny Napalm) for his helpful site: London Punk rock archives More London punkrock ! Also, check out: 63 Monroe official site
-Jeff Warren, Londoner from way back when |
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Without a doubt, the rowdiest, dirtiest, and most chaotic punk rock band
to play in London at the time was N.F.G. It was often rumored that the
name stood for “No Fucking Good” and to most club owners they were.
N.F.G.
shows became so notorious and downright rotten that everything that came
before seemed like roses and sugar in comparison. The leader of this band
was the aforementioned Steven R. Stunning, then a long-haired punk rock
pariah, who stood out even in a room full of equally sneaky punk rock
pariahs. Stunning and N.F.G. took the
London punk rock sound right to the
edge of the cliff and clutched it around the throat, ready to let it drop
at any moment. For the first time, the London
punk scene was starting to
mimic the scenes in England and America, and N.F.G. suddenly found
themselves ostracized from certain clubs. So, in 1980, the band made the
decision to change their name to ’63 Monroe
and take things in a
completely different direction.
