Don Pyle Joins the Gord Lewis Songbook

Music fans know Don Pyle’s name as a long–standing figure in Canadian Rock history – from Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet to King Cobb Steelie to Phono Buck and more recently The Filthy Gaze of Europe. But long before his music career, Pyle was a kid with a camera. A rather good camera, no less and an even better eye for taking photos of the music he loved. As a teen, Pyle was part of the nascent punk scene that exploded in the late ‘70s in Toronto and what was once simply a hobby has been documented as an important part of rock history. The musician and producer recently unearthed his 30–year–old work and recently offered a new book, Trouble in the Camera Club. This week, Pyle returns to Hamilton to be a part of the Gord Lewis Songbook and offer a slideshow and discussion on his photos.

“I see all of the things I do as being similar or related and coming from the same sensibilities and interests,” reasons Pyle on the many ways his love of music manifests itself. “Music has always been my primary interest, whether that’s creating, listening, photographing, writing or talking about – and so much of my work and references link directly to music.”

Pyle captured images of the Diodes, the Viletones, the Ugly – as well as XTC, Blondie, the Clash and the Ramones – simply as a teenaged music fan but the images are so engrossing, the collection is awe–inspiring.

With technology allowing more cost–effective and convenient ways to revisit his photographs, Pyle saw that new technology and his own demise as his two main motivators to bring these photos to light.

“I saw and had access to my photos for the first time, in most cases,” says Pyle. “I didn’t know I had as many good photos as I have – even some of the ones I thought were bad were only bad because of the processing or print quality I saw in the late 70s. And death is the subconscious motivator for most things we do and addressing my photos at this time is probably no different. Was it good to just leave all these images in a closet where no one would ever see them or should they see the light of day? It was now or never, and I wanted to share them with others who’d be as thrilled to see my photos as I have been. It’s hard not to notice that a significant number of the people I photographed are deceased, and it’s a clear but beautiful illustration of how brief our time here is.”

Dozens of bands are given their due with accompanying stories, ticket stubs and other memorabilia adding to Pyle’s narrative. The story about coming to Hamilton in jeans to see Teenage Head and being refused entry until Head’s then manager Paul Kobak handed Pyle his cords through the bathroom window is priceless – but Pyle has many outstanding memories of the Hammer.

“I remember what amazing signage and neon there was in Hamilton, particularly around the bus station area downtown,” remembers Pyle. “I remember the bus terminal too, having hung out there a few times waiting for the bus home. Hamilton and Toronto didn’t seem so dissimilar at that time, but the difference is way more dramatic now. Parts of Hamilton look now as Toronto did in the 1960s and 70s, so I love seeing that about Hamilton. Toronto bulldozed what Hamilton still has. Another thing I remember from one of those trips was Frankie taking us to his mother or aunt’s home for tea and cookies, and how it reminded me so much of some of my Scot and English aunt’s homes – framed tartans and crests and china figurines. It was kind of cool and weird to see these people I thought of as being so extraordinary as real and the same as my family. Pre–’79, I only ever came to Hamilton to see Teenage Head.

“If you can imagine someone being underground in the underground, that was them then,” adds Pyle. “That they were from Hamilton allowed them to be outsiders, even though they seemed to live in Toronto and were around at shows all the time, and played here more than most local bands. Being almost the only longhairs really made them stand out and I admired their non–conformity and integration of the New York Dolls’ style. They were probably the best musicians of the first wave and arrived in Toronto fully formed so we didn’t witness as many of the early lumps we saw with Toronto bands playing shows two weeks after forming. The main reason was that their songs were so fantastic. Their first album is nothing but great songs, a total classic from beginning to end, and it was these and some of their Frantic City songs like “Disgusteen” they were playing live.  Enough can’t be said about how cool they looked, too. The photos I have of Gord in his big sunglasses and Bea Arthur sweaters show how stylish they were, and Steve in his glammy girls sailors’ outfits with hair sprayed curls. Frankie’s energy, style, and fearlessness on stage made them always exciting to watch. He easily drove audiences inspired by his velocity into a frenzy.”

Some of Pyle’s photos are priceless – although some reprints are available for purchase at shows. This week Pyle joins Teenage Head guitarist Gord Lewis’s Songbook (where the guitarist leads an all star group of musicians and singers offering the music of Teenage Head and the songs that inspired the band) to offer a slideshow presentation of Trouble in the Camera Club and discussion of those nascent years of punk. But it seems Pyle might not be part of the musical portion of the event.

“Gord heard me sing at the book launch and hasn’t invited me to join him onstage,” laughs Pyle. “You draw your own conclusions.”
 
“This night is an opportunity to show some photos that didn’t make the cut for some reason or to point things out viewers might not otherwise see, or to just give more of the story of what was happening at that moment,” adds Pyle. “The photo of Gord on the flyer is one I showed at the Toronto launch of the book and I definitely will talk about, and show some more Teenage Head photos. I would say just expect to see photos of some wild kids accidentally making history.”  V

Don Pyle joins the Gord Lewis Songbook this Wednesday July 6 at This Ain’t Hollywood. Click on donpyle.com or thisainthollywood.ca