![]() ![]() But he sang and played like a worried but determined little dog chasing a ball. Alex, still only 20, turned out to be shockingly shy for all that fireball talent, barely even speaking. It felt even better to see how great they were live. It felt good to help, and it cemented our friendship. ![]() I gave him their contact info, and within a month, there was the group before us, playing in front of a giant Big Apple crowd and staying at my little flat. He clearly loved it, so I let “Fountains” play too, and he was sold. So I put on Sell Out Young’s “Daylight,” as he checked out its bright yellow sleeve. Then one night, Rock Hotel boss/promoter Chris Williamson came into the DJ booth and asked for suggestions on whom else he might book. And I extolled both in reviews in Big Takeover issues 20 and 22, and spun them regularly as a DJ on WNYU’s New Afternoon Show and for the big Rock Hotel New York punk shows-first at the Jane West Hotel, and eventually the 1500-capacity Ritz. Both drew some notice, even if the latter was inexplicably limited to 500 copies and sold out quickly. Over the next five years, they only managed two compilation tracks (1984’s Something to Believe In, on L.A.’s BYO, and 1984’s Montreal punk scene sampler, Primitive Air Raid), then two vinyl EPs, 1985’s Sell Out Young and 1986’s prior-recorded Paisley. I ended up playing those five songs (see tracks 24-28 on their indispensable 1996 retrospective, Green Fields in Daylight) 100 times, raved about it that issue, and commenced a regular letters and phone correspondence with the band. I hadn’t gotten 50 seconds into “Scratches and Needles” before I was pinned against my armchair in shock and excited awe, floored by their Who/Sex Pistols/Avengers roar, melodic might, and especially 16-year-old Alex Soria’s soaring mushmouth vocals. It looked slipshod, but their logo reminded me of west coast punk greats The Dils, so I shrugged and put it on out of due diligence. ![]() They mailed it from Montreal in 1982 to my Manhattan bedroom/office for potential review in issue 12 of The Big Takeover. When I first encountered The Nils, it came in the form of a nondescript, amateurish, primitive-looking, 300-copies Now cassette EP. A revisiting of A Saucerful of Secrets -Īvailable for free and for fans from November 2021.Remembering One of Canada’s Greatest Bands, Montreal’s Nils, and Their One Proper LP (and R.I.P. Pink Floyd - Syncopated Pandemonium - MQR 016 ![]()
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