Snfu

by Chris Walter

  The anniversary show didn’t seem to be happening and Ken was depressed. Then he wondered if it might be possible to assemble some sort of tribute act, just for one show. After all, there was no shortage of capable players hanging around the Cobalt. Goony, who had played bass with ‘80s punk legends The Unwanted and had toured Europe with SNFU in 1992, assured Ken Chinn that he could handle the guitar parts. His last band, Dog Eat Dogma had folded recently and he was currently without a project. If they billed the show as a tribute act and changed the name slightly, perhaps they could avoid a confrontation with Marc Belke, who might not take kindly to the idea.

  Ken “Goony” Fleming was instrumental in the next configuration of SNFU. Of all the people to take his place on guitar, Goony was probably the last person Marc would have picked. Nonetheless, and although Ken Chinn and Goony had also clashed in the past, the ex-singer was more than willing to put aside his grievances for another chance to play as SNFU just once more. Now that he thought about it, the name “asSNFU” was as good a name as any for the tribute act. Ken also liked the fact that stuck together, the two words spelled “ass.” The name appealed to his twisted sense of humour.

  Although Ken Fleming didn’t know that the project would become a full-time band, he was the perfect man for the job. First, Goony was a capable musician and could teach the other recruits how to play the songs. Secondly, he had been around not the just the block but the entire world, several times. Tight-fisted and experienced, he knew how to deal with managers, promoters, shysters, and other music industry predators. However, while Goony must surely have guessed how much work would be involved, he had never walked a mile in Marc Belke’s worn-out sneakers. From now on, he would be forced to pinch the pennies, rent the vehicles, secure the practice spots, herd the musicians, and do all the other things that Marc no longer did. Ken Chinn wasn’t going to carry the gear, so Goony would have to do it himself or find someone who would.

  Nonetheless, in April of 2007, Ken Fleming clapped his hands together briskly and went to work. Born in Winnipeg on October 23rd, 1963, Ken was the product of a working class family in the rough-and-tumble district of St. James. As a student, the teen spent more time selling weed than he did studying, and finally dropped out of school altogether. With plenty of free time on his hands, Ken helped form the Fabulous Swinging Medullas in 1979, with himself on bass, Norm Simm drumming, and Stu Mazur “singing.” No guitar. The band had only two songs, which they repeated endlessly in the Fleming basement until his parents kicked him out of the house. “We didn’t even know how to play. It drove my parents insane,” the bassist explains. Ken slept in a bus shack for a few days until a friend Kirk Berry, let him stay in the loft of his parents’ heated garage for $220 a month. Free to smoke pot and make music, the youth was almost content.

  Ken took a job with Manitoba Telephone Systems, and The Unwanted came together in 1981. After practicing endlessly at Kirk’s house, the young punks began playing shows in Winnipeg with top bands such as the Stretch Marks and Personality Crisis. The Unwanted eventually replaced original singer Al Carson with Norm Simm, and by 1983 they were neck-and-neck with the mighty Stretch Marks in terms of popularity. Dubbed “Goony” for the funny expressions he made while playing, Ken continued to grow as an artist, and although hardcore began to fade away, The Unwanted released Shattered Silence with BYO Records and supported DOA on an extensive American tour. The Unwanted were at the height of their considerable powers in 1986 when cracks began to appear. Guitarist James Yauk had a habit of quitting the group whenever they toured, and the other members would have to talk him into rejoining. One night at the Royal Albert, just after they had returned from a successful US tour, Norm lost his temper and decked the guitarist, thus ending the band for good. “Best tour yet, too,” Ken Fleming says glumly.

  Fleeing icy Winnipeg for the temperate climate of Vancouver, Ken stayed active in the music scene, joining Grey Skies with rock god Devin Townsend. As mentioned earlier, Goony toured Europe with SNFU in 1992, and played in several other groups before joining Econoline Crush and touring widely with them. Along with brief stints in other bands, he played bass for Twist, Ani Kyd’s band, the Real McKenzies, and Dog Eat Dogma. Although he was still playing music in 2007, Goony was looking for something new. He wasn’t quite sure that the drug addict who had once been Chi Pig could actually pull it off, but even an SNFU tribute act would be a good draw. He was at the Cobalt when SNFU packed the place in 2004, and was betting that it could happen again.

  Ken Chinn was itching to hit the stage. With a renewed purpose in life, the artist retreated from the edge. He was still smoking meth and crack regularly, but it didn’t dominate him as completely as it once had. With music in his life again, Chi dreamed of being onstage with a multitude of adoring fans at his feet. Meth and coke gave him a rush, but the buzz he got from performing live was even better. He began telling patrons at the Cobalt that SNFU would soon return, and some of those people actually believed him.

  Ken “Goony” Fleming began interviewing potential prospects for the tribute band. Unfortunately, Jon Card was busy with the recently reformed Subhumans, but Goony knew another excellent drummer named Chad Mareels. Goony and Chad had played together in Dog Eat Dogma, and shared a solid musical history. Soon Goony and Chad were jamming in Chad’s basement with no bassist, just to get the feel of the songs. As the anniversary grew nearer, wendythirteen began to promote the event, and fans discussed the upcoming show excitedly. Was Marc Belke back? Who was in the new band? Was the singer even capable of singing? No one knew what to expect.

  Goony was still looking for a bassist, and one of his former associates was an obvious choice. In 2006, Goony had played in Death Sentence with a talented musician named Bryan McCallum, but the members went their separate ways when the band self-destructed for the umpteenth time. However, Goony ran across Bryan one afternoon and mentioned that he was thinking about getting an SNFU tribute band together for a show at the Cobalt. “Right away, I asked him who was playing bass,” says Bryan, who had long been a fan of SNFU. However, because he had used drugs with the bassist in the past and was trying to quit, Ken Chinn didn’t immediately give him the nod. Goony looked harder, but when a suitable candidate failed to appear, Bryan got the call just two days before the show. “Me and Goony practiced for a couple of hours, but we didn’t even rehearse with the rest of the band,” McCallum laughs. The clock was running down, and Goony was starting to sweat.

  Ready or not, “asSNFU” took the stage at the Cobalt Hotel on Friday, July 20th, 2007 for a large and rambunctious crowd. While the numbers weren’t quite as good as they’d been in 2004, the turnout was respectable nevertheless. Chi seemed a bit disoriented at first but soon got over the jitters and put on a fine performance. “I did a hoot [of crack] on the way over,” explains the singer. While the absence of Marc Belke or any other identifiable bandmembers confused some fans, they accepted the new band when it became clear that they knew the songs. Sure, the new guys were a bit sloppier and didn’t play the material perfectly, but the fans were drunk and the energy was flowing. Also, the new band played all the old favourites—songs that Muc rarely brought out of cold storage. The fans, who still remembered the words to “Cannibal Café,” sang along at the top of their lungs. Against all odds, Chi Pig was back.

  The bassist looked vaguely familiar, and some of the fans Bryan McCallum from his previous bands. Born in October of 1976, Bryan was considerably younger than Chi or Goony, and was closer in age to drummer Chad Mareels. Hailing from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Bryan is the youngest of three boys. His life changed forever when he snuck out of the house in 1988 to see Death Sentence, Sacrifice, and the DayGlo Abortions at the Acme Skatepark in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. “Murray (singer of the DayGlos) had a broken leg and was supported by crutches,” recalls McCallum, who had no idea that the frontman often sported a cast. The performance inspired the twelve year old to pick up the bass, and he has been playing ever since. Some are born to make
music, and Bryan is one them.

  At eighteen, the bassist tired of island life and moved to Vancouver. Although he first heard SNFU when he was fifteen or sixteen, Bryan didn’t see them play until he was nineteen. “I’d always been a fan, but I was blown away when I saw them live,” says Bryan. He became friends with Rob Johnson, who occasionally put him on the guest list. Bryan’s occupation as a weed grower made it necessary for him to commute from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, so he joined a Victoria band known as The Hoosegow, travelling back and forth for shows and rehearsal. “I was too skinny for that band,” he laughs. The other members were all big boys. Bryan also spent seven years in the long-running Vancouver band Karen Foster. “We did a record for Sudden Death called War Is Not Enough, and released a few on our own,” says the bassist. When Karen Foster ran out of steam, he teamed up with Ken Fleming in Death Sentence, which led to his current position in SNFU.

  Two days later, “asSNFU” played a smaller, all-ages gig at The Sweatshop near the corner of Hastings and Clark. Ironically, Chad Mareels feels that he played better at the first show. “I think I train-wrecked one or two songs [at The Sweatshop],” Chad laughs, certain that fans could hear his mistakes. While Ken Fleming was a talented musician and a better-than-average guitar player, he couldn’t play Marc Belke’s guitar parts better than Marc could. Nor did Goony contribute backing vocals and gang shouts as Marc had, so that was also a problem. The kids were stoked to see Chi Pig again, but the band needed more practice.

  On August 25th, “asSNFU” travelled to the town of Grand Forks, BC with the progressive industrial/instrumental band Removal. The show was organized by the son of an old-school punk who had been part of the early ‘80s scene in Calgary, and after hearing all the stories, the kid could barely wait to see the punk legends for himself. Luckily, the band was in fine form, and everyone was happy when the band turned in a feisty performance. Sure, the Belke brothers were no longer present, but the new guys knew the songs, and Chi Pig still worked hard to please. So what if the singer was a bit drunk?

  Because of the positive reaction, “asSNFU” elected to keep going rather than disband, but they performed very irregularly at first. In fact, the guys didn’t play again until October 19th, when they did another show at the Cobalt with Aging Youth Gang and The Fight United. Less than a month later, they were back to hold a benefit for wendythirteen after thieves broke into the bar and stole all her booze. “Chi saved my ass that time,” says the grateful bartender/promoter, who would not forget this act when the singer needed help later. That month, the band also travelled to Vancouver Island for shows in Nanaimo and Victoria. The date at The Cambie in Nanaimo was no great shakes, but the Lucky Bar in Victoria was packed. Unfortunately, the owner of the bar found Chi Pig in the garage changing into his stage clothes and mistook him for a street person. Chi gave the poor man just enough rope to hang himself before informing him that he was the singer for the headlining band. The embarrassed fellow apologized profusely, and the show went off without a hitch. In fact, Chi worked harder than ever, just to show the owner how wrong he was. The singer has a malicious side to him that has been known to surface on occasion.

  The band laid low until early December when they made an unexpectedly difficult trip to Whistler. With a nasty winter storm blowing in, they had to put chains on the tires to get through the snowy pass, and the highway was closed for some time before the police finally opened it. The boys arrived just in time to play, and despite the blizzardlike conditions, the place was jammed tightly with excited Whistlerites. Chi Pig was his entertaining and charismatic self that night, exceeding the expectations of most fans. A good time was had by all.

  Although the band was not practicing regularly, and Chi wasn’t always in the best shape, the boys turned in a somewhat sloppy but spirited performance at the Anza Club on New Year’s Eve with The Rebel Spell, China Creeps, and Jones Bones. Jones Bones’ frontman Denis Maile remembers the show: “SNFU was on fire that night. Literally. I remember Chi burning the stage with lighter fluid and having to stomp out the flames when some cords started to go up. I also recall him busting out some great karate kicks.” The long-running local act Motorama was added at the last second when another show they were supposed to play was cancelled.

  By now, Chi Pig had dropped the “as” in front of “SNFU,” and was referring to the band as SNFU. Marc Belke was aware that Chi was using the name, and wasn’t very happy about it. “Many of my friends were angry and told me to tell him to stop, but I didn’t because I care about Chi and knew what a difficult time he was having with his life. If Chi didn’t have SNFU to cling to, he would basically have nothing. Besides, even if I did tell him to stop, I’m positive he would have told me to fuck off,” says Marc. The guitarist cooled significantly over time when he realized that the new band would not damage the legacy of SNFU. Even recent fans were aware that for the first few years of the “new” SNFU lineup, Chi Pig was the only member to appear on any of the albums. The new band had some big shoes to fill.

  Although there may be a kernel of truth to Marc’s hypothesis that Chi Pig was being slightly vindictive about using the name, the singer’s decision to do so was based primarily on a desire to attract larger crowds. Marc was absolutely right when he said that SNFU was Chi’s whole life. Unlikely to find work in film or radio as other ex-members had, the band was everything to him.

  Not everyone was tickled pink with the new SNFU, but the boys were soon back in action, this time with Left Spine Down at the Red Room on January 19th. Mark Sommer of Synthetic Entertainment watched SNFU carefully that night, and it was easy to see that people still loved Chi Pig, even if they didn’t know the musicians behind him. Synthetic was currently looking for new artists, and though Mark didn’t sign SNFU that night, he would soon be helping the guys with details they couldn’t quite manage themselves. “I had a credit card and a van,” laughs Mark Sommer. “I also bought a trailer later.” Those were the sort of qualities that SNFU could appreciate in a manager.

  In early April, filmmakers Sean Shaul and Craig Laviolette approached Chi Pig with the idea of shooting a documentary based on his life. A friend of theirs had seen Chi doing karaoke at the Cobalt and thought his story would be compelling. “He sang ‘Hurt’ by Nine Inch Nails, and she told me how moving it was for her,” recalls Sean Shaul. “I was looking to do something fresh and Canadian, and I had always been a fan of SNFU, so it seemed like a good idea.” Chi agreed, but the project would ultimately take a year and a half to complete. Since the singer had no phone, the filmmakers had to hunt him down at various Eastside bars with all their equipment for interviews. Sometimes Chi was lucid and sharp, but other times he would abuse the filmmakers roundly. Not exactly optimum conditions under which to shoot a documentary.

  Rehearsing irregularly but feeling optimistic, SNFU planned a short tour. As leaves began to appear on the trees, the boys moved out in Chad’s van, the very same vehicle in which Chi had once slept. By now, SNFU had signed to Synthetic Entertainment, and another band under the same management Left Spine Down was along for the ride. LSD guitarist Denyss McKnight also worked for Mark Sommer, handling press, promotion, and, occasionally, bookings. Denyss soon began to wonder if Mark had bitten off more than he could chew. Chi Pig needed a manager all to himself.

  The punk rock circus stopped in Canmore and Calgary before reaching Jasper, where the boys visited some friends of Chi’s. Bassist Bryan McCallum was already shitfaced when they arrived, and the situation quickly went from bad to worse. “Bryan was being obnoxious on the trip up from Jasper, so somebody shoved a beer bottle, or maybe it was a Dorito, down his ass crack,” recalls Chad Mareels. “He was complaining about his asshole burning.” Bryan continued to behave in an offensive manner, so the boys finally took him outside and buried him in a snowdrift. Incredibly, and even though the bassist was so drunk he could barely walk, he took the stage that night and played almost flawlessly. “Bryan is an incredibly talented musician. He can hear somethin
g once, and then pick up any instrument and play it,” says Denis Nowoselski, who would soon take Bryan’s place. There was only room for one maniac in the band, and it wouldn’t be the bass player.

  The band moved out the next day with Chad Mareels driving. The drummer was excited about his new gig because people actually lined up to see SNFU. A gifted musician in his own right, Chad was born in London, Ontario in 1969. He has a younger brother and sister, and two younger stepbrothers. When Chad was seven, his parents split up, and he went to stay with his father, who eventually married another woman with two sons of her own. Music ran in Chad’s mother’s side of the family, and his dad was an artist trapped in the body of a civil engineer. “My dad always encouraged me to play, and he would pick me up after gigs late at night, even though he had to work the next day,” says Chad. His father also bought him his first guitar, although the youth soon took up the drums instead. At age fifteen, Chad was already playing shows in bars with older musicians, despite the fact that he was too young to enter licensed establishments. “I guess they never bothered to ask for ID because I was carrying gear,” explains the drummer. Call it a fringe benefit of being a musician.

  With his first band POW, Chad regularly opened for Dioxin, an African-Canadian metal trio with an album on Cargo. “First Among Equals was pretty good, and they were really talented,” recalls Chad. At seventeen, the drummer left his father’s house, even before he finished school, to join a local punk group, the Black Donnellys. “I met the DayGlo Abortions when they camped out at our rehearsal space in 1986,” Chad remembers. Unable to get along with the singer, he left the Black Donnellys and joined Taplash, but then his mother gave him some money to see Europe after his father passed away. After travelling around for several months, he returned to Canada only to discover that his bandmates had replaced him while he was gone. Disappointed, the young drummer moved to Vancouver, where his mother was living. Perhaps a change of scenery would do some good.