Falling into Bad Habits is a lot of fun

Photos by Jeff Ross.

This article may not mean anything to you if you're not Canadian, but if you grew up in the country (particularly Ontario) and were a teenager 33 years ago, there's a good chance you know and love The Monks' Bad Habits.

The Monks were formed by John Ford and Richard Hudson, who'd made a name for themselves with British prog-folk band Strawbs earlier in the decade and decided to make a new wave-punk album. That didn't sit well with U.K. punks, but Strawbs had a much lower profile in Canada and past associations were no obstacle.

Bad Habits came out of nowhere and went on to sell more than 150,000 copies in Canada within a short period after its release. "Drugs in my Pocket" became a hit (even though there are a lot of other songs on the album that may be better), The Monks played before large crowds and the follow-up album -- Suspended Animation -- was only released in Canada.

That set the stage for the July 26 tribute to Bad Habits at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern, which was put together by Small Sins' Thomas D'Arcy, who recorded a cover of the album (complete with him in a nun's outfit to mimic the original's cover) along with a number of fellow fans and musicians, including Ian Blurton (C'mon, Change of Heart), Chris Murphy (Sloan), John Kastner (Doughboys), Kurt Dahle (New Pornographers) and Ryan Dahle (Age of Electric). The album can be downloaded for free from D'Arcy's website.

The evening began with a set by The Order of Good Cheer, which lived up to the name with with a set of fun power pop and garage rock that was a good fit with what was to come later.

John Ford and his double-platinum award for Bad Habits.

But before the main event, Ford performed a solo acoustic set. I'd seen a guy sitting against the wall earlier who looked like the David Spade film character "Joe Dirt" and said to myself, "There's an '80s burnout who still has enough memory left to be here." I was pretty surprised a half-hour later when I realized that "Joe Dirt" was Ford.

The audience seemed pretty uninterested in the 64-year-old's material, so he threw in an Oasis cover to get its attention, and then followed up by keeping on a roll with the 1974 Hudson Ford hit "Burn Baby Burn," "Big Hit in India" and the title track and "Don't Bother Me -- I'm a Christian" from Suspended Animation. I requested that last one and the final song of his set, Strawbs' "Part of the Union" -- which was a childhood favourite.

The Bad Habits tribute followed and eager fans surged to the front to sing along. Murphy was vacationing with his family in Prince Edward Island so D'Arcy recorded a good-natured "Fuck you, Chris Murphy" message on an iPhone before singing "Love in Stereo" himself.

Grapes of Wrath's Kevin Kane was the first guest and had just the right amount of nasal whine to do "Bad Habits" justice. Chris Colohan from Cursed  sang an aggressive version of "Drugs in my Pocket" that reminded me of what  I probably would have sounded like if I'd been invited on stage.

"Skylab!"

Ian Blurton

Blurton came out for "No Shame" and the volume and intensity were instantly cranked up -- topped off by the guitarist throwing his instrument into an amplifier to end the song.

Ford was presented with a double-platinum award for Bad Habits when he came on stage, and he sang lead on "I Ain't Gettin' Any." Sadly, it could have been my theme song when it came out and still could be all of these years later. Ford stuck around for "Out of Work Musician" before everyone briefly left the stage.

John Ford and Thomas D'Arcy

The group had performed 11 songs, but there was one remaining track that we hadn't heard. The band came out, invited women on stage to dance and launched into the politically incorrect but terribly entertaining "Nice Legs Shame About Her Face."

Facebook chatter has been overwhelmingly positive over the past few days and folks who couldn't make it to the show are asking for another gig. It's worth seeing if it happens.

And if you're still scratching your head and wondering what all the commotion is about, try and find a copy of the original Bad Habits and put it on at a party. Then you'll understand.

Rekindled memories and fun surprises at Juno Concert Series show

The Juno Award festivities begin in Ottawa at the end of the month and culminate with the April 1 televised awards show from Scotiabank Place, but I don't think any of it will be as fun as the March 3 installment of the Juno Concert Series at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern.

Three talented groups acted as house bands over the course of the evening and made excellent accomplices for the top shelf guests who joined them.

The Order of Good Cheer started the night and was soon joined by Thom Darcy of Small Sins and Serena Ryder. The best part of their time on stage was a ripping run through Andy Kim's "Rock Me Gently," one of my favourite songs as a child and one I still hold in high esteem. I wasn't disappointed.

Jason Collett with The Order of Good Cheer

Jason Collett seemed to be battling a cold, but still did a fine job of The Weakerthans' "Sun in an Empty Room" and Metric's "Gold Guns Girls."


Collett's Broken Social Scene buddy Kevin Drew then bounded on stage for what he described as a "bar mitzvah version" of Corey Hart's "Never Surrender" with ad-libbed allusions to "Boy in the Box." I'd happily take it over the original song.

Billy Talent frontman Ben Kowalewicz added a bit of a hardcore element to the Forgotten Rebels' "Surfin' on Heroin" and had me wishing that Billy Talent was that punk.

That ended The Order of Good Cheer's night and, while The Beauties set up behind him, Ron Sexsmith offered a solo acoustic interpretation of Max Webster's "Let Go The Line" that worked surprisingly well in that format.

The Beauties established their prowess from the start by opening their portion of the show by jamming out on The Guess Who's "Guns, Guns, Guns."

Ian Blurton with The Beauties

Ian Blurton maintained his guitar hero reputation by leading a blazing romp through April Wine's "Weeping Widow."


Bahamas' Afie Jurvanen was more restrained but no less impressive as he took The Beauties through a bluesy "Cortez the Killer" that had the crowd spellbound. I'm sure that Neil Young and Crazy Horse would have approved.

Former L'Etranger leader and now New Democratic Party member of parliament for Toronto's Davenport riding Andrew Cash followed and took the opportunity to campaign to the packed club, which seemed to largely share his left-leaning political views. He was joined by Ladies of the Canyon's Maia Davies on Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows," but they should have left that one alone.

The Skydiggers' Andy Maize and Josh Finlayson put a big smile on my face by singing another of my childhood favourites, Pagliaro's "What The Hell I Got." It was obvious that Maize enjoyed himself singing it as much as I did hearing it.

Andy Maize and Josh Finlayson with The Beauties

NQ Arbuckle's Neville Quinlan had the crowd singing along enthusiastically to the chorus of Blue Rodeo's "Hasn't Hit Me Yet."


Drew returned for a song called "Last Night in the City," which he said he's been doing with The Beauties at The Dakota Tavern for the past three years. I liked it.

The Beauties' night came to an end after another visit by Maize and Finlayson and a lead vocal turn by Joel Stewart on the Skydiggers' beautiful "I Will Give You Everything."

I've loved Arkells sets of Motown and other vintage covers in the past, so I was excited to see what they might come up with along with some of their musical friends. It was a surprise when Born Ruffians' Luke Lalonde joined them for Broken Social Scene's "Cause=Time." I was standing beside Drew watching the performance from the Horseshoe office window and it was obvious he appreciated it. When I asked him for a verdict afterward, he replied: "That's an unbelievable feeling."

The lovely Emm Gryner pulled off another pleasant surprise by singing Joel Plaskett Emergency's "Extraordinary." It was pretty good at first and just kept getting better.

The ever-smiling Jose Contreras reprised his band By Divine Right's "Stella Heart Ocean."

Davies took the lead while Cuff The Duke's Wayne Petti and others gang-sang the chorus of Young's "Harvest Moon" along with the audience. Great Lake Swimmers' violinist Miranda Mulholland added an impressive solo for good measure.

Petti took centre stage to sing his own band's "The Future Hangs." The harmonica-fuelled country rocker is probably my favourite Cuff The Duke song, and it sounded just as good in the hands of the Horseshoe assemblage.

Members of Tokyo Police Club and Our Lady Peace drummer Jeremy Taggart whipped more excitement out of the crowd than from me with OLP's "I Loved You All Along," but at least I didn't have to hear Raine Maida singing it.

Drew and Davies were back yet again and made a winning combination on what may be my favourite Dears song, "You and I Are a Gang of Losers."

The crowd erupted when The Tragically Hip's Gord Sinclair and Paul Langlois joined the Arkells for the Hip's "Grace, Too," but it was Arkells singer Max Kerman who stole the show. If Hip frontman Gord Downie ever becomes ill and needs an emergency fill-in, we've found the man to do it. Kerman even did a mid-song stream of consciousness spiel on working a baseball glove in and waiting for the sun to come out a la Downie. The performance had all the benefits of the Hip, but without the group's often annoying fans.

The night ended with the Arkells, The Beauties, The Order of Good Cheer and some of their guests crowding on stage to play Bryan Adams' "Run to You." It seemed like almost all the hipsters in the audience let their guards down and pumped their fists in the air and sang along to the chorus.

The show was presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) and North by Northeast in conjunction with the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the $20 cover charge went to MusiCounts, CARAS' music education charity.

It was a good cause and definitely a better night than February's edition of the Juno Concert Series, and one that every person I talked to was happy to have witnessed.