The Smalls
Encyclopedia
The Smalls were a hard rock
/metal
band from Edmonton
, Alberta
, with jazz
, hardcore punk
, speed metal
and country music
influences. They were probably the most prominent Alberta band in the second wave of performers coming out of the Canadian west coast DIY scene that was first ushered into Alberta by the iconic hardcore punk band SNFU
in the mid-1980s.
The band showed unusual technical ability right from its inception, and was known for the buzzing speed guitar attack of Dug Bevans and arching vocal style of lead singer Mike Caldwell whose wide vocal range is well showcased in the bands cover of Natural Woman as it appeared on their last release, My Dear Little Angle. Caldwell was known not only for his considerable vocal skills but his unassuming stage manner and refusal to banter with audiences. Corb Lund is better known more recently for his work with his roots and country project Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans
.
The band was probably best categorized as a hard rock or metal band but because of its association with the DIY Punk Rock scene of the 1980s and 1990s the band never shook the Punk Rock label, even though every album featured a straight Jazz number or faithful covers of rock standards such as Middle of the Road
(Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde
) and songs featuring a variety of styles including country, swing and salsa style jazz breaks that were embedded in the bands signature hard rock/metal sound.
Near the end of their career Corb Lund had this to say about the band's eclectic style:
, but were also known for extensive touring in outlying areas—In Kamloops, British Colombia they were banned from performing after a riot that took place after a promoter severely overfilled a small venue and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
attempted to clear the hall.
In 1999, the smalls became the first Canadian act to perform in the Balkans after conflict engulfed the area in the mid-nineties. Bassist Corby Lund said, "Not many North American bands reach these places. We think it's as important to play in these areas because it's a good opportunity for real cultural exchange."
In 2001 the band announced that it was disbanding and finished its career with a farewell tour with a memorable two-night send-off in Calgary
on October 19, 2001 at MacEwan Hall, and Edmonton
on October 20, 2001 at Red's.
Their second album To Each a Zone (1992) was produced by noted Vancouver punk rock producer Cecil English, who was very often an engineer and sometimes producer on records by NoMeansNo
(The Day Everything Became Isolated and Destroyed
) and DOA (Win The Battle
) -- including a collaboration between Jello Biafra
and DOA (Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors
). Videos for the singles Payload and On the Warpath from To Each a Zone went into steady rotation on MuchMusic
. Their first recording the smalls was remixed and remastered again with the help of Cecil English and re-released with three new tracks in 1993.
With their third album Waste and Tragedy (1995) the band moved to a new producer, Joel van Dyke (Wide Mouth Mason
, Colin James
) and a much cleaner sound. The band produced two videos for this release, one for the track It's Gonna be Fast and one for the lead single of the album, Pity the Man with the Fast Right Hand, a song that incorporate country themes into the hard rock/metal format.
The band never signed a recording agreement with a major label but released Waste and Tragedy through Cargo Records Canada signing a production and distribution deal with label owner Randy Boyd in 1995. Boyd had been successful in capitalizing on the expanding "indie rock
" music scene including becoming the first distributor for many Sub Pop
artists and the Epitaph Records
label in Canada. Shortly thereafter Boyd sold Cargo Records Canada to Alan Fox a successful entrepreneur with no music industry experience. Three years later the company went bankrupt and the smalls were one among many creditors who went out of pocket when the company began to default on payments as it collapsed. The smalls moved their catalog to Outside Music
.
Despite ongoing problems with Cargo Records the band secured distribution in Europe and embarked on its first European tour during this period, scenes from which can be found in the documentary called The Smalls... Er Whatever, directed by John Stiles and edited by Ian Harvey. It was filmed during the tour and when they returned to Canada to record what would be their final album, My Dear Little Angle (sic), in 1998. They again switched to a new producer, Glenn Robinson (GWAR
, Voivod
, Tori Amos
, The Tea Party
). This album was distributed by Outside Music.
A playful high speed country metal tune featuring layered backing vocals that might be considered a tip of the hat to Ennio Morricone
Spaghetti Western
compositions called My Saddle Horse Has Died later appeared on Corb Lund and the Hurtin's Albertans 2007 release Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!
.
, a Juno Award
winning and gold record selling roots-country act. Originally started in 1993 and known simply as The Corb Lund Band up until 2004, the group featured original drummer Ryan Vikedal from 1993-2000. Vikedal left the band due to his touring commitments to Nickelback. Dug Bevans is engaged in Edmonton area projects such as producing and playing on Steve Hobbins recording the Wizard of Words. Dug Bevans was Art Director, Composer, and 'Man with the Vision' for the Burning Man 2011 Trojan Horse art project. Terry Johnson plays drums for the Kurt West Express.Mike Caldwell went on to sing in a country cover band in Edmonton known as The Whiskey Brothers.
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
/metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band from Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, with jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, speed metal
Speed metal
Speed metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from NWOBHM and hardcore punk roots. It is described by Allmusic as "extremely fast, abrasive, and technically demanding" music....
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
influences. They were probably the most prominent Alberta band in the second wave of performers coming out of the Canadian west coast DIY scene that was first ushered into Alberta by the iconic hardcore punk band SNFU
SNFU
SNFU is a Canadian punk rock band formed in 1981 in Edmonton, Alberta and later relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. They have released nine full-length albums and are cited as a formative influence on the skate punk sub-genre....
in the mid-1980s.
Overview
Formed in 1989, the band featured original members Derek Bevans and "Carigh" Brown until 1990. The consistent line up afterwards included, vocalist Mike Caldwell and bassist Corb Lund from the town of Taber, Alberta, guitarist Dug Bevans from Leduc, Alberta and drummer Terry Johnson from the northern Alberta town of La Glace. The four met while attending Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, where Caldwell, Lund and Johnson were taking classes in music, and Bevans was taking art courses.The band showed unusual technical ability right from its inception, and was known for the buzzing speed guitar attack of Dug Bevans and arching vocal style of lead singer Mike Caldwell whose wide vocal range is well showcased in the bands cover of Natural Woman as it appeared on their last release, My Dear Little Angle. Caldwell was known not only for his considerable vocal skills but his unassuming stage manner and refusal to banter with audiences. Corb Lund is better known more recently for his work with his roots and country project Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans
Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans
Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans are a Canadian country music band, formerly known as the Corb Lund Band.-Corb Lund:Corb Lund, the lead singer, grew up in Southern Alberta living on his family's farm and ranches near Taber, Cardston and Rosemary. He is proud of being an Albertan...
.
The band was probably best categorized as a hard rock or metal band but because of its association with the DIY Punk Rock scene of the 1980s and 1990s the band never shook the Punk Rock label, even though every album featured a straight Jazz number or faithful covers of rock standards such as Middle of the Road
Middle of the Road (song)
"Middle of the Road" is a single that appears on The Pretenders' album Learning to Crawl.It is a song that has a 60s-style rhythm, and it peaked at #19 on the US pop singles chart and #2 on the US mainstream rock chart in January 1984, where it stayed for four weeks.The number is at least...
(Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde
Chrissie Hynde
Christine Ellen "Chrissie" Hynde is an US musician best known as the leader of the rock/new wave band the Pretenders. She is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, and has been the only constant member of the band throughout its history.-Early life and career:Hynde is the daughter of a part-time...
) and songs featuring a variety of styles including country, swing and salsa style jazz breaks that were embedded in the bands signature hard rock/metal sound.
Near the end of their career Corb Lund had this to say about the band's eclectic style:
- "We’ve outlived a bunch of different scenes that people have tried to lump us into, but we’ve never seen ourselves as part of a ‘scene;’ we’ve never been really into the punk scene, or the speed-metal scene, or the rap-metal scene. People just try to fit us into whatever music happens to be playing at the time, but we’ve never really paid too much attention to that."
Career highlights
The band sold over 40,000 albums over twelve years and built "a rabid fan base, particularly in western Canada", almost entirely independent of any label or industry support. They were friends with and toured Quebec several times with GrimSkunk. In western Canada the smalls high energy shows made the band a touring success and could be counted on to fill large halls when headlining at venues such as Vancouver's legendary Commodore BallroomCommodore Ballroom
The Commodore Ballroom is a renowned music venue, dance floor, and nightclub located on 800 block of Granville Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. The building was built in the Art Deco style of the late 1920s by George Conrad Reifel and designed by architect H.H. Gillingham. Best known for...
, but were also known for extensive touring in outlying areas—In Kamloops, British Colombia they were banned from performing after a riot that took place after a promoter severely overfilled a small venue and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
attempted to clear the hall.
- "The Smalls - these guys tore up the underground scene for years 90's and sadly never got their just due. These guys were notorious for stating riots, not because they were instigators (they were all pretty passive and shy guys), but because their music was so high energy people would loose their minds. As a matter of factly the last time I saw them as we were leaving cause things were right out of control the riot squad was showing up to gain some order."
In 1999, the smalls became the first Canadian act to perform in the Balkans after conflict engulfed the area in the mid-nineties. Bassist Corby Lund said, "Not many North American bands reach these places. We think it's as important to play in these areas because it's a good opportunity for real cultural exchange."
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
on October 19, 2001 at MacEwan Hall, and Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
on October 20, 2001 at Red's.
Recording History
The Smalls garnered significant industry interest at the beginning of their career with the release of their first self-produced recording the smalls in 1990. The band soon became associated with S.L. Feldman & Associates, a major Canadian touring and management agency.Their second album To Each a Zone (1992) was produced by noted Vancouver punk rock producer Cecil English, who was very often an engineer and sometimes producer on records by NoMeansNo
Nomeansno
NoMeansNo is a Canadian progressive punk rock music group originally from Victoria, British Columbia and now located in Vancouver.The band has never had, nor have they seemed to pursue, strong mainstream success, but they do have a devoted underground following in North America and Europe...
(The Day Everything Became Isolated and Destroyed
The Day Everything Became Isolated and Destroyed
The Day Everything Became Isolated and Destroyed is a compilation album combining the EP The Day Everything Became Nothing and the full-length album Small Parts Isolated and Destroyed, both by NoMeansNo.-Tracklisting:...
) and DOA (Win The Battle
Win The Battle
Win The Battle is the 12th studio album by Canadian punk rock band D.O.A.. The Slogan on the back cover will later be used as the title for their 2010 release.All songs are written by Joe Keithley except where noted....
) -- including a collaboration between Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
and DOA (Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors
Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors is a 1989 punk rock album born out of a collaboration between two punk stalwarts, Jello Biafra and Vancouver, Canada band D.O.A....
). Videos for the singles Payload and On the Warpath from To Each a Zone went into steady rotation on MuchMusic
MuchMusic
MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
. Their first recording the smalls was remixed and remastered again with the help of Cecil English and re-released with three new tracks in 1993.
With their third album Waste and Tragedy (1995) the band moved to a new producer, Joel van Dyke (Wide Mouth Mason
Wide Mouth Mason
Wide Mouth Mason is a Canadian blues-based rock band, consisting of Shaun Verreault , Safwan Javed , and Gordie Johnson . Former bassist Earl Pereira was also co-founder of Wide Mouth Mason...
, Colin James
Colin James
Colin James is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, who plays in the blues, rock, and neo-swing genres. He grew up as a Quaker.-Early years:...
) and a much cleaner sound. The band produced two videos for this release, one for the track It's Gonna be Fast and one for the lead single of the album, Pity the Man with the Fast Right Hand, a song that incorporate country themes into the hard rock/metal format.
The band never signed a recording agreement with a major label but released Waste and Tragedy through Cargo Records Canada signing a production and distribution deal with label owner Randy Boyd in 1995. Boyd had been successful in capitalizing on the expanding "indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
" music scene including becoming the first distributor for many Sub Pop
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
artists and the Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records is a Hollywood, California based independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The label was originally "just a logo and a P.O. box" created in the 1980s for the purpose of selling Bad Religion records, but has evolved into a large independent record...
label in Canada. Shortly thereafter Boyd sold Cargo Records Canada to Alan Fox a successful entrepreneur with no music industry experience. Three years later the company went bankrupt and the smalls were one among many creditors who went out of pocket when the company began to default on payments as it collapsed. The smalls moved their catalog to Outside Music
Outside Music
Outside Music is a Canadian record label and distributor, founded by Lloyd Nishimura in 1995. In 2007, it expanded to include an artist management division which counts Jill Barber, Matthew Barber, One Hundred Dollars and Sunparlour Players as management clients.Outside has released countless...
.
Despite ongoing problems with Cargo Records the band secured distribution in Europe and embarked on its first European tour during this period, scenes from which can be found in the documentary called The Smalls... Er Whatever, directed by John Stiles and edited by Ian Harvey. It was filmed during the tour and when they returned to Canada to record what would be their final album, My Dear Little Angle (sic), in 1998. They again switched to a new producer, Glenn Robinson (GWAR
GWAR
Gwar is a satirical heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, United States, in 1984. The band is best known for its elaborate science fiction/horror film inspired costumes, obscene lyrics and graphic stage performances, which feature humorous enactments of politically and morally taboo...
, Voivod
Voivod (band)
Voivod are a Canadian heavy metal band from Jonquière, Quebec, Canada. Their musical style has changed several times since the band's origin in the early 1980s...
, Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
, The Tea Party
The Tea Party
The Tea Party is a Canadian rock band with blues, progressive rock, Indian and Middle Eastern influences, dubbed "Moroccan roll" by the media. Active throughout the 1990s up until 2005 when the band broke up, The Tea Party released eight albums on EMI Music Canada, selling 1.6 million records...
). This album was distributed by Outside Music.
A playful high speed country metal tune featuring layered backing vocals that might be considered a tip of the hat to Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
compositions called My Saddle Horse Has Died later appeared on Corb Lund and the Hurtin's Albertans 2007 release Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!
Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!
Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! is the fifth studio album by Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans. It was released on Stony Plain Records on November 13, 2007.-Track listing:All songs written by Corb Lund except where noted....
.
After the Smalls
Bass player Corb Lund has since carried on with Corb Lund and the Hurtin' AlbertansCorb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans
Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans are a Canadian country music band, formerly known as the Corb Lund Band.-Corb Lund:Corb Lund, the lead singer, grew up in Southern Alberta living on his family's farm and ranches near Taber, Cardston and Rosemary. He is proud of being an Albertan...
, a Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
winning and gold record selling roots-country act. Originally started in 1993 and known simply as The Corb Lund Band up until 2004, the group featured original drummer Ryan Vikedal from 1993-2000. Vikedal left the band due to his touring commitments to Nickelback. Dug Bevans is engaged in Edmonton area projects such as producing and playing on Steve Hobbins recording the Wizard of Words. Dug Bevans was Art Director, Composer, and 'Man with the Vision' for the Burning Man 2011 Trojan Horse art project. Terry Johnson plays drums for the Kurt West Express.Mike Caldwell went on to sing in a country cover band in Edmonton known as The Whiskey Brothers.
Members
- Mike Caldwell – vocals
- Corb Lund – bass
- Dug Bevans – guitar
- Terry Johnson – drums
Discography
- The Smalls (album) (released as a cassette in 1990, remastered to CD in 1993)
- To Each a Zone (1992)
- Waste and Tragedy (1995)
- My Dear Little Angle (1999)