Sam Sutherland - Perfect Youth book
Sam Sutherland: Perfect Youth - The Birth of Canadian Punk
Publisher: ECW Press; Year: 2012; Format: Book
There was a time not even all that long ago where I was asking myself why nobody has ever written a book on punk rock from Canada. It was a time when the first serious books about punk rock started to be published, but maybe it was just too early for this great land. But in the end patience pays off, and in 2014 there is more than one book to be had on punk rock from those crazy Canucks. Sutherland’s book though is special in the sense that it provides a detailed history of punk rock from coast to coast of this vast country. The author has done an excellent job at covering thousands of miles, and I can only assume that it must have been one hell of an undertaking to not only track down all the bands and its former members, but to actually organize the book so that it becomes clear to people not that knowledgable with Canadian geography where in the heck these bands came from. The book is divided up into nineteen chapters and each one of them concentrates on a specific scene/city/band(s). While many of us seasoned punk rock enthusiasts are familiar with the historical backgrounds of bands such as the Viletones, Subhumans, the Diodes or D.O.A, I personally enjoyed the most the chapters about the scenes I had very little knowledge about; such as Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatchewan or Ottawa to name a few. Winters in those places are harsh, brutal and long, yet even in those remote areas scenes developed and flourished. It is said chapters that make this book a really great read and I would have bought a book about just those remote scenes alone, but that's just nerdy me. Of course you'll also get to read about the scenes in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal and anywhere else in Canada. Outstanding stuff, and I can only hope that more archival releases in form of books and records delving into the rich history of Canadian punk rock will keep popping up.
