"mama"Year: 1982
Country: Canada
Label: Vancouver
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 13
Time: 38 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Jazz Punk
Label: Alternative Tentacles
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 13
Time: 40 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Jazz Punk
"why do they call me mr. happy?"
Year: 1993
Label: Alternative Tentacles
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 10
Time: 58 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Jazz Punk
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HANSON BROTHERS
Tracks: 13
Time: 40 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Jazz Punk
an
often bizarre jazz punk band from Vancouver, Canada, Nomeansno formed
around brothers Rob (bass, guitar, vocals) and John Wright (vocals,
drums, keyboards). Andy Kerr joined up in the early '80s on guitar and
vocals, and upon his departure in the early '90s, the band recruited
guitarist Tom Holliston as his replacement. The group's punk hybrid also
encompasses touches of jazz, funk, punk rock and hardcore, with special
emphasis laid on jarring, hard-to-follow rhythms. Their lyrics are
often self-consciously weird, but Nomeansno are frequently original and
challenging. With countless releases over the years (tenth full-length
All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt appeared in 2006), the band has issued music
through labels like Alternative Tentacles, AntAcidAudio, Southern, and
their own, Wrong Records. The Wright brothers also spent time playing
with their side band the Hanson Brothers, basically a ridiculous Ramones
tribute band they did with some buddies. ~ Steve Huey
Label: Alternative Tentacles
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 10
Time: 58 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Jazz Punk
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"my game"
Year: 2002
Label: Alternative Tentacles
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 15
Time: 36 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk Pop
The Hanson Brothers were a Canadian punk rock band active from 1984 to 2016. The group included John and Rob Wright and Tom Holliston, all members of the punk rock band Nomeansno. The Hanson Brothers' band name references characters in the cult ice hockey film Slap Shot. From 1984 to 1989, the Wright brothers (John on drums and Rob on bass guitar) and original NoMeansNo guitarist Andy Kerr performed Ramones cover sets sporadically under the name The Hanson Brothers. The Hanson Brothers later began to write "their own Ramones songs" i.e., original songs in the fast, melodic style of the Ramones. At this time John Wright played drums and the three members shared lead vocal duties. Examples of songs from this era are "Ya Little Creep" and "Bad," two Kerr-era NoMeansNo songs with songwriting credited to the Hanson Brothers; the former appears on the 1991 compilation Clam Chowder and Ice Vs. Big Macs and Bombers, and the latter on The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy, a collaborative LP with Jello Biafra.
The Wrights began working with guitarist Tom Holliston as the Hanson Brothers in 1989. The earliest sessions from this time still featured John Wright on drums; however, Ken Jensen of D.O.A. soon joined as the drummer and John Wright devoted himself to the lead vocals. After releasing a debut 7-inch, the band recorded their first album, Gross Misconduct, in 1992. The album featured art spoofing the cover of the Ramones' Road to Ruin.
Jensen died in a house fire in 1995. Ken Kempster (member of, among many other groups, the Showbusiness Giants) became the group's next drummer, referred to as "Kenny Jr" Hanson. This lineup released the group's second record, Sudden Death, through a subsidiary of Virgin Records. The cover spoofed D.O.A.'s "The Prisoner" single cover.
In 2000, the songs "Rink Rat", "Third Man In", "Stick Boy", and "Danielle", were featured in the NHL Rock The Rink game for the Sony PlayStation. Also in 2000, John Wright, in his Johnny Hanson character, recorded an instructional video regarding homebrewing beer. Wright also compiled and released two compilations of hockey-themed songs called Puck Rock Volumes I and II.
Kempster left the group in 2001, and Ernie Hawkins joined for touring behind the group's third record, My Game. The cover parodied Black Flag's My War. In April 2006, the band went on a tour of Canada. Hawkins appears on the group's 2008 live album It's a Living, whose cover parodies the Ramones' It's Alive. Mike Branum, from The Freak Accident, debuted as the group's drummer for their 2008 tour. Byron Slack replaced Branum in 2014.