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The album cover from the brand new retrospective release
"Tired Of Waking Up Tired," which was released in
Canada on Nov. 17th, 1998.
This is a previously unpublished photo I took in 1978 of the original
Diodes at rehearsal prior to recording their 2nd album. From left to right:
John Hamilton, Paul Robinson, John Catto, Ian Mackay.
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This was a punk group I was involved with back in 76-80 as
manager, designer, lighting guy, roadie, publicist (you get
the drift), etc. The group released two lps on
Columbia/Epic in Canada plus one on
Orient/RCA. They are best known for their hit
"Tired Of Waking Up Tired" (currently on cd on the
Rhino compilation, "Come Out And Play. American
Power Pop"), and also a manic cover of "Red Rubber
Ball" (yes the old Cyrkle hit co-written by Paul
Simon).
Together we ran Canada's first punk club, The Crash 'n'
Burn. The Diodes were also the first punk band signed to a
Canadian major label. The first lp (released late 77) was a
big import item in the USA and was also released in various
European countries. Well, after 6 years of legal nonsense,
we finally convinced Sony Canada that it would be a
good idea to release a compilation cd of (almost)
EVERYTHING the Diodes ever recorded for them,
digitally remastered and everything (by Craig Waddell).
I oversaw this project along with the band, notably
guitarist John Catto, and it was released on Nov. 17th,
1998.
The 24-track masters to the 2nd album appear to be
missing and probably won't show up till long after the cd is
out, of course!) so we didn't get to remix things and
uncover now lost out-takes. I went through my archives of
photographs and articles and things for the cd and most of
the photos have never been printed before, including stuff
from their first USA tour through New York, Boston, Chicago,
etc, back in 1978. At their Max's Kansas City show, they
were introduced on stage by the one and only Wendy O.
Williams! The package is a cool 12-page booklet with lots of
photos and reproductions of old posters and stuff. I know a
lot of people have been waiting for this, so we tried to
cram as much as we could in there. The coolest item was
finding pictures of Jeremy Gluck (Barracudas singer) and Don
Pyle (Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet drummer) side by side
at the infamous 1978 Shock Concert show...not knowing each
other...and not knowing they'd be on stage themselves one
day instead of pogoing in the crowd.
We appreciate any comments once you have had a chance to
go through it. I'm sure we missed something....
Just email me:
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The big question I get when I run into Diodes folks is- where are the guys now?
- Paul Robinson, singer.
Living in London, UK. Art consultant.
- John Catto, guitars.
Living in London, UK. Computer consultant.
- Ian Mackay, bass.
Living in Toronto. Employed in the computer software industry.
- John Hamilton, drummer.
Living in Toronto. Designing web pages.
- Mike Lengyell, drummer.
Living in London, Ont. Still drumming.
- 1977 - The Diodes (Columbia)
- 1979 - The Diodes, Released (Epic)
- 1980 - The Diodes, Action Reaction (Orient)
- 1982 - The Diodes, Survivors (Fringe)
[available on eBay]
All are out of print. Copies of Survivors is available on vinyl from me for $12 (half of that is the pre-paid postage). As of Jan. 2003, some copies are also available on eBay.
This isn't available from the mail order section of this web site, so inquire about it directly from me as I don't have a lot of them, but it would be nice to get them out of my closet.
Survivors is a collection of out-takes and demos from 77-81 (including material NOT on the Sony CD re-issue). In Osaka, Japan, you can purchase this item at Nat's Records. This is the only record store in the world that has this album for sale. Cover photographs are by George Whiteside (an unknown cool guy back then - international fashion superstar now).
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This is one of the many posters I designed and printed on my old 1950s mimeograph Gestetner printing press.
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