Ryan Walter Wagner
Every story about Calgary post-punk band Viet Cong contains the same reference points. First there are the mentions of Women the band that bassist/frontman Matthew Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace anchored from 2007 to 2010 before its legendary demise ending with an onstage brawl at the height of their fame. The band faced further loss in 2012 when founding guitarist Chris Reimer passed away in his sleep. Then there’s the fact that Viet Cong guitarist Scott “Monty” Munro and Flegel have long served as members of Chad VanGaalen’s backing band.
There’s no denying the importance of these reference points — listen to any guitar-based band that Canada has produced in the last half-decade and you’ll likely find Women’s fingerprints in their sound from pop psychedelia to jagged off-kilter guitar work. Similarly VanGaalen’s worldwide reputation and outsider artistry have been enormously successful making him one of Calgary’s most notable musical exports ever.
Surely it’d be unfair to call Viet Cong (rounded out by guitarist Daniel Christiansen) a complete departure from Flegel and Wallace’s past efforts — VanGaalen contributed “electronic kick drum” to the band’s recent self-titled album and the remnants of Women can be heard in their icy guitars and challenging song structures. Still the band is a true anomaly and one that sounds like it could swallow you whole.
If anything the Women and VanGaalen references offer an incomplete portrait of Viet Cong’s pedigree. Between them the four musicians have performed in a long list of diverse and forward-thinking acts both in Calgary and beyond.
Outside of his work with Women and VanGaalen Flegel (who now lives in Nanaimo when not on tour) has also played bass on records from The Cape May and New York guitar shredder Marnie Stern. Wallace has also maintained a steady busy work ethic in Calgary. In the Women days he co-founded and ran the Comrad Sound music space on 14th Street S.W. a multipurpose DIY venue that hosted all-ages events. He played in the electronic-tinged Azeda Booth drummed in the hardcore outfit Monkey then fronted the band Friendo alongside Nicole Brunel and Henry Hsieh. They toured heavily releasing their excellent Cold Toads LP in 2010 before disbanding in early 2012. Right before forming Viet Cong Wallace toured as a drummer for Mauro Remiddi’s electronic pop project Porcelain Raft.
“Playing in Porcelain Raft was a pretty big change for me because it was sort of the first time I wasn’t playing the music that I was making — it was sort of the hired hand idea” says Wallace on the phone from Amsterdam. “I mean I got to move to New York and it was an amazing opportunity but it didn’t really take me long before I realized that it just wasn’t where I belonged. Because I’m just very passionate about the music I’m making.”
Though he hasn’t toured as much as his bandmates Christiansen has long been a staple of Calgary’s underground music scene performing in a variety of bands worthy of their post- prefixes. Most notably he was an integral part of the garage-leaning post-punk outfit Sharp Ends which released some acclaimed singles and an LP before disbanding in 2010 the same year as Women. He’s been a staple in the city’s post-hardcore scene with turns in Draft Dodgers (alongside The Corta Vita’s Glenn Alderson and post-hardcore renaissance man Kevin Stebner) and Crow Eater (also featuring members of The Corta Vita) among others. He’s also been involved in some notable one-off projects including the Vancouver-based spazzcore outfit Miss Black America (with members of The Buzzing Bees The Red Light Sting and others) and Spacemaker 801 a post-punk band he formed with Wire’s Colin Newman and local drummer Mark Igglesdon for a pre-Sled Island show in 2009.
Munro might be the busiest of the bunch. He says he “technically” co-founded the local avant-garde label Bug Incision with Chris Dadge (“I mean I did but from the get-go Dadge has been running it” he clarifies) and he’s played in a variety of local acts. Along with his work for VanGaalen he’s played in Jay Crocker’s backing band and served as a member of Gunther in addition to many many other projects. Along with Bug Incision where he still pitches in for the occasional cassette cover cost he’s also in the Bent Spoon Duo with Dadge. “We actually toured a lot” he says of the free improv group. “We don’t really play shows too much anymore which is unfortunate. I’d like to get back into some of the improv stuff.”
There’s no one genre defining the resumés of Viet Cong’s ranks but Munro says the members’ innovative spirit is distinctly Calgarian.
“The one thing I find about Calgary is that there’s just not necessarily a scene for whatever it is you want” he says. “If you want to play a free improvisation show in Calgary you have to put it on…. Because of that I find that every little tiny scene is really accepting and supportive of the other scene…. There’s not a free improv scene where a bunch of people go to those shows. You’ll have a rock group in the middle of two improv bands on a bill at Broken City. I think it’s honestly really supportive and people are super open-minded partially because they’ve had to build so much of the scene from not much.”
Thanks to Women’s now-legendary status along with the varying success of their other projects the members of Viet Cong surely expected some recognition when they first conspired to form a new band in 2012. They self-released the Throw It Away cassingle in 2012 followed by a highly sought-after six-song release simply called Cassette. The latter was pressed to vinyl by Brooklyn indie imprint Mexican Summer last year. Then last month the band released their self-titled debut album (via Flemish Eye in Canada and Jagjaguwar worldwide) to near-universal acclaim. Intentionally or not they’ve tapped directly into the blogosphere’s buzz machine.
It helps that the music is on point. Viet Cong opens with dark brooding percussion and echo-drenched near-monastic vocals. While memorable melodies lay within it’s hardly an inviting pop release. As it unfolds the album offers a barrage of mysterious and foreboding sounds from hypnotic synths through jarring guitars (of which every critic uses their favourite post-punk adjective “angular”) mechanical rhythms and lyrical existentialism.
Recorded by Flegel Munro and Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) in various locations the album’s a pastiche of ideas that cohere as one mammoth statement. Viet Cong is the sound of four top-tier musicians operating at an extremely high level.
Munro admits that he had no idea how the album would be received. “You can never really guess too much with that sort of thing” he says. “I personally thought it was a lot better than the EP that we did and the EP got some pretty positive response as well…. But it was also not really the same in a lot of ways. There was some stuff that we played around with on the EP like avenues that we didn’t continue down.”
“We’re all really blown away” says Wallace. “It’s a nice feeling when you’re making the music you want to make and it goes over well. We weren’t thinking about what anyone else wants to hear from us. We had no concept of which direction we were going to go from there. We just hunkered down and had a really good writing session and a good recording session.”
Viet Cong have already done some heavy touring both in this project and others but the hype surrounding their debut album has resulted in one of their best trips yet. “Oh man it’s been a hell of a time” says Wallace of their recent Euro trip. “Every show is sold out for some reason we can’t really figure it out but we’re not really going to complain about it. It’s been pumping us up.”
“It’s been kind of insanely good like way better than we thought” adds Munro. “A lot of the U.S. shows are sold out now too which is kind of ridiculous.”
There’s a sense of celebration from Wallace and Munro as they recount their recent travels where they’ve revisited favourite venues and met up with friends. “Last night was a bit of one” says Munro. “We kind of partied in Paris like crazy where we ended up drinking a full bottle of tequila in about 15 minutes.” He’s quick to clarify that no one got too far gone. “There was quite a few people. It wasn’t like somebody just slammed it Michael Anthony style.”
There’s also a feeling of camaraderie something that comes when you start a band as close friends. “Touring and music life is very difficult; it wears you down” says Wallace comparing Viet Cong to his time as a hired hand in Porcelain Raft. “I just kind of felt like if I’m going to do this it has to be worth it and I have to be making the music that I love.
“So having that as a bit of experience it just makes you realize — I don’t take this band for granted at all” he continues. “I’m really happy to be working with my friends. I love these guys we get along super well and we have the best time when we’re onstage and when we’re in the van. I really appreciate everyone.”
VIET CONG perform at Commonwealth on Thursday February 26. The show is sold out.
