Ron Allan's page of shameless self promotion

Band

Format

Title

Year

Label

Description

The Cover Boys

45 RPM Single (vinyl)

She’s a Jerk/It’s a New World

1979

Quintessence Records

Power pop trio. The record really sucks but the band was pretty good, live.

The Subhumans

LP (vinyl)

No Wishes, No Prayers

1981

SST Records

One of the original punk rock bands from the west coast scene. Pre-dated hardcore. This is an interesting album. We did it at the old Beach Boys studio in Santa Monica using Black Flag’s producer, ‘Spot’. Interesting middle of the night sessions. There is a 2001 bootleg, supposedly, on CD. The Canadian Subhumans are not to be confused with those English wankers that stole the name.

Corsage

LP (vinyl)

Rome

1981

Emblem Records

A band made up of members from  various real bands. Started out as a lark and we’ve been together for 25 years, now. I like the album but the live gigs from this era were total spectacles. We had a 10 piece band including a dancing midget, named ‘Angel’. I never did figure out where Angel came from or where he went. This is always a great band to play in. We opened for The Clash one night at the Pacific Coliseum in front of 10,000 people. After the gig I got in a cab and went and player a warehouse gig with Tim Ray in front of 40 people. Makes sense…

BANFF

45 RPM Single (vinyl)

Mini-Crisis

1981

Not sure

I did this as a session player. I was never part of the band. I went in, did the part, and forgot about it. I was living with Dave Gregg from D.O.A. at the time at a place we lovingly called ‘Ft. Gore’ on Gore St. in Vancouver. I came home one day and a copy of the single was leaning against the front door. The URL I included is to a compilation CD that includes the cut.

Shanghai Dog

12” EP (vinyl)

Clanging Bell

1983

Independent

We did this EP in the same studio that Heart did their first album in. It was a really great tube studio that the owner had built from scratch. However, during one of the sessions the roof caved in and water spilled all over the board. We managed to rescue the 2” tape and life went on.

Shanghai Dog

12” LP (vinyl)

This Evolution

1985

Undergrowth Records

This album was quite an adventure. The playing on it is really good. What I don’t like about it is that we traded musical perfection for musical emotion. Too bad. Great band. Could have made a great album.

The Groovaholics

A record? That would imply we had a plan…

Arguably the most fun band I’ve ever played in was The Groovaholics. This was a band started by Dave Gregg from D.O.A, Ian Tiles, (a.k.a Buddy Selfish), and myself. After a while John Card played drums and so did Alex Philippedes. Our goal was too see how badly we could piss off the punk rock community by playing really crappy disco music and wearing disco appropriate garb. As fate would have it the reaction was totally to opposite and we had some great gigs, made more money than we deserved, and took turns carrying each other out of the venues at the end of the night.

The Scramblers

CD

Last Call

1991

Zulu Records

The Scramblers are featured on the cut Solitary Man, recorded at Mushroom Studios. This is a Vancouver compilation album that captures Vancouver alternative music from 1977 to 1988 put out by Grant McDonaugh the owner of Zulu Records

The Subhumans

CD

Pissed Off with Good Reason

1996

Essential Noise/Virgin

I play on one cut on this CD – the live cut called ‘Out of Place’ at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver (1981). We were opening up for ‘X’ that night. The rest of the album features mostly the original Subhumans members including Jerry Useless (Hannah), Mike Graham, Wimpy Roy, and Dimwit. The Subhumans in any incarnation were a great band.

Corsage

CD

Western Roll

1996

Emblem

This album was done live off the floor at the CBC studios in Vancouver, Canada. We were doing a night time show called the ‘David Wisdom Show’. In typical Corsage fashion, we never really practiced before recording. We got together, talked about the songs, the last Simpson’s episode, and various other topics and then went and played. Everything worked out.

Corsage

CD

What the New World Teaches the Old

1999

Emblem

Once again, no practice. Bill and Phil wrote the songs. John and I showed up and traded road stories. Everything was loose. It sounded like music so we put it out. There is also a bunch of old material on here that works really well. This is my favorite Corsage album.

The Scramblers

CD

Good Gone Bad

2005

Heart of Texas Records

This album is a compilation of The Scramblers studio cuts with 3 live tracks thrown in. This is pure RnR at its most primal. Being in this band was like being married to a trophy wife: the primal urges are satisfied but the price tag is huge.

Doug Andrew & The Circus in Flames

CD

A Little Bit of Gasoline

2006

CFD Records

This is the second release from this band and the first that I am playing on. The tracks were recorded in January of 2005 and bring together raw emotion using acoustic instruments. Playing with this band is a pleasure. It is as enjoyable as playing with Corsage and has the same potential as the Scramblers had. Best of both worlds.

Doug Andrew & The Circus in Flames

CD

The Gift

2007

Stony Plain Records/Warner

This album is a tribute to Ian Tyson. Artists such as Gordon Lightfoot, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Blue Rodeo, and The Circus in Flames are featured doing Ian's songs. The Circus in Flames does a really nice version of 'Someday Soon'.

Movie

Starring

Year

Description

Empire of Ash III

William Smith, Ken Farmer

1989

Composed and played a significant amount of the ambient music for the sound track with Dave Gregg and a really great drummer (can’t remember his name). This is a really poor sci-fi film. The best things about it is that my buddy, Dave Gregg, shoots rockets off of a helmet on his head and Ken Lester (D.O.A’s manager) sports a mohawk and looks the part of the quintessential anarchist warrior.

Short Time

Dabney Colman, Matt Frewer

1990

I had a small speaking role in this film. I remember the wardrobe people gave me these real cool socks to wear and I liked them so much I wore them home. I guess my karma caught up with me because they cut out my voice and dubbed in some one else’s doing a different line. The thing I remember most about the experience was what a nice guy Dabney Coleman was. He tends to play nasty people in a lot of his roles but in reality he is a really nice guy and treats everyone with respect.

Terminal City Ricochet

Peter Breck, Jello Biafra

1990

Peter Breck used to be in ‘Big Valley’ and Jello Biafra was the singer in ‘The Dead Kennedys’. Interesting combination. I was a singer and bass player in a band during a dance scene. It is my mouth doing the singing but someone else’s voice on the soundtrack. The best thing about doing this movie was that I got to share a dressing room with Joe ‘Shithead’ Keithley, a long time friend, and ‘Gentleman Gene  Kiniski’ a world champion professional wrestler. The humerous stories never ended.

Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders

Who cares. Some guy and a bunch of strippers

1991

Played on some of the sound track music. Never seen this movie. But some friends of mine have a part in it where they are dressed up as excrement. That should give you a clue…