Never mind the homework, here's the Vegan Teacher

It’s snowing like crazy and I’m stuck in the city. I’m waiting for a call from my mentor teacher so we can figure out what I should do. The idea of a 4 hour drive on the highway in a crazy snowstorm makes me very nervous, my car is small, I’m traveling alone and I don’t have a cell phone. So while I’ve been waiting to hear from him, I’ve edited my interview with Marc Belke. Here is the first of many interviews I hope to do with the musicians who have inspired me along the way. Anyone I feature here has had an impact on me in someway that indirectly led me to where I am today at 27, hopeful for the future and giving ‘er everything he’s got.

I’ve been agonizing over how to introduce Marc and the band he devoted 25 years of his life to. Throughout the years, SNFU became legendary in the world of Canadian punk rock which makes it really hard for me to be happy with anything I come up with. How can you use words to give the credit due to a band that paved the way for countless Western Canadian punk-rock bands? A band that perservered through countless lineup changes, break-ups and being dropped by their label at the height of their popularity?

I guess it comes down to what the band did for me on a personal level. How I found an SNFU record at age 14 and listened to it endlessly. How it would serve to charge me up at the beginning of the day, help me through the rough times, teach me how to play guitar and teach me how to read between the lines written by a vocalist who would emote by using some of the most absurd concepts. But if you have an SNFU record, you already know this. If you ever saw the band, you probably share my memories of leaving the venue covered in cake, your underpants strangely containing grains of puffed wheat from Mr. Chi Pig’s one-of-a-kind stage performance.

But enough of that, here’s a lesson in Punk Rock History 101.

VT-Hello sir, would you mind introducing yourself? I’ve heard you played in a couple of bands?

Marc-I’m Marc Belke. I played in Snfu for over 20 years as a guitarist. I also played in Wheat Chiefs after Snfu broke up in ‘96 and I had a project called Based On A True Story we played for about a year or so around Vancouver in 2002.

VT-Can you tell me about how you were introduced into punk rock?

Marc-My first introductions to punk rock were through the son of the pastor at the church my parents used to drag me to. They had just moved to Edmonton. He played for me, for the first time, the Sex pistols, Ramones, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads.
My first exposure to live punk rock was the first punk bands from Edmonton, Calgary & Vancouver. The Diefenbakers, The Rock & Roll Bitches, P.J. Burton & The Smarties (Everybody hated The Smarties) and the Sturgeons.
I also remember hearing a news story on CBC talking about this horrible new music trend in England and how horrifying it was. When I later heard the Sex Pistols I thought it was very cool and exciting. More fun than horrible.

VT-Legend has it that SNFU met at a skate competition. To set the record straight, is this true?

Marc-Sort of. Me and my twin brother Brent knew Chi from the Skiers Sportshop skate team. Skiers had the first real half pipe in town and Chi and his brother Dan used to just shred that thing. We were on a different skate team. You must know that “team” is sort of a random word for what we were, just different crews of skaters in Edmonton. Anyway, there were a few contests and we would always see Chi at them but didn’t really talk to him until we started seeing him at the few “punk” shows around town. There was hardly anyone at those shows so you sort of talked to everyone and we sort of knew him before so we started up hang out and listen to records and stuff.

VT-What other bands existed that were getting Edmonton kids stoked around the time that SNFU was starting out?

Marc-You have to understand that scene in Edmonton was so small that it barely existed at that time. There wasn’t hundreds of kids in the scene. We would have been the kids at that time and we were younger than most of “the scene”. But the local bands at that time were SNFU, Down Syndrome, Ghost Shirt Society, Blank Generation, Malibu Kens and the few I mentioned earlier.

VT-What was the process of booking a show, or a tour for that matter in the early 80’s, as a punk-rock band from the prairies?

Marc-Booking shows wasn’t that easy. Bars didn’t really want us to play so our best bet was to book a hall and piece together a p.a. We were very lucky to discover the Spartans Mens Hall. It was in a part of town where no one lived, it was close to the LRT, rarely booked and had a stage. that hall was a big part of the growth of the scene in Edmonton and Western Canada.
As far as tours went, we would just stay in touch with out of town bands that came through town and they would help us with shows in their towns. There was no “circuit” of clubs or bars to play at that time. Gubby Svboda did a lot of booking shows and tours for us. He helped the scene in E town big time.

VT-Digital recording techniques have made it so bands can put records together without having to be in the same room together, edits are heavily relied upon and drummers can be made to sound as though they have perfect timing. How does this compare to working on a record with Cecil English in the 80’s?

Marc-The differences are pretty obvious. You had to rehearse a lot, but we didn’t let that stop us. When we recorded with Cecil we were at a point were we needed more help with arrangements and direction on a producer level. Cecil interacted with us on the smallest level. He was really concerned with capturing our live sound and he did. But the record we did with him would have been better with some technical help with the arrangements. Our rhythm section and really the whole band were not in sync at all on that record. It’s unfortunate because it was Chi Pig’s finest moment as singer and lyricist. That record could have been better.
I think that recording enables you to make a more perfect sounding record so why not. Speaking generally, live and recording are different environments for creativity so they should be approached differently. Again, I’m speaking generally.

VT-I’ve read many early interviews with you guys in which you were referred to as a hardcore punk band. What do you think you guys did to have you slotted into this category?

Marc-Well hardcore is a much more defined thing now thanks to evolution. But back then hardcore to me meant your music was punk to be sure, but it also had an element of social consciousness or importance to what you were singing about. At that time we did have a bit of that. We also had fun, but up until “Stick in the Eye” Chi was singing about some serious issues. So I think we were a little “hardcore” anyway. Labels are for librarians and the media.

VT-There are a lot of legendary shows that Edmontonians still talk about. One of them was the Clash at the Kinsmen in ‘82, another was the Red Hot Chili Peppers in ’87 at Club John’s, X two days later (still referred to as one of the loudest shows) and of course, SNFU with the Dead Kennedy’s in ’84 at a roller-rink. What are your memories of that night?

Marc-I don’t remember alot about the DK’s show in Edmonton but we did the Saskatchewan shows with them after that. They were very proffesional in thier attitude. really capable musicians. We learned alot about playing live from them. I still love the DK’s because of thier uniqeness and political content. It’s terrible what’s happened to them.

The Clash show I remember the new songs off Combat Rock sounding better than their classic material. They were into the new songs more than the old ones. It was obvious.

I met Mick Jones in the late 90’s in Paris at a Green Day after show party. Sometimes it’s great to meet your heroes.

VT-Are there any other noteworthy shows that you remember being at in Edmonton? I remember you telling me about a Black Flag show that happened, years before they came through again with Henry…

Marc-I think you misunderstood me about Black Flag. They never played in Edmonton without anybody but Henry. Too bad. I think they were better without him. Some of the shows that stand out. M.I.A. showing up late to Spartans and totally rocking the place and the scene totally pushing them to play better/ harder.
Any Personality Crisis show, for real, ANY. DOA at the Masonic Temple downtown on thier Hardcore ‘81 tour. I’d seen them before but they finally blew me away. DOA with Dave Gregg, Randy Rampage and Chuck Biscuits. So much energy. Fang and Code of Honour at Spartans. One of the first punk shows, 999 at the SUB U of A. The cover of the Sun the next day….Punk Rock Riot! Hilarious. Travelling down to Calgary see Minor Threat at 10 Foot Henrys. There was maybe 50 people there. I loved Riot 303 from Calgary.

VT-Thanks for sharing Marc!

Marc-Thanks, this was fun!