Dream Tower Records DT02. Filmed December 1, 1978, Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto. Release date October 14, 2008. Directed by Colin Brunton. Featuring: The Scenics, Cardboard Brains, The Secrets, The Mods, The Ugly, The Viletones, Teenage Head. Special Features: The Scenics filmed live in 1978 tearing through Scenics classics AND rarities:  O Boy/Lil Yeller Linc/Riptide/Do the Wait/Wild Trout/New Part in Town /Sister Peg. Chris (Secrets and Viletones) Haight’s commentary. Photo Gallery by Edie Steiner. "You are there" concert footage- seven of Toronto"s best punk/art punk bands playing to a packed Horseshoe Tavern. Includes interviews with Teenage Head, Viletones, and promoters Gary Topp and Gary Cormier, among others. Extremely rare as a document of the early years of rank and file North America punk rock. No retakes, no morals, just a direct injection of the punk infection, circa 1978. It offers just a taste to those who never got to experience the DIY glory of those years. If you WERE around,you"ll recognize it and smile. The Scenics perform Ken Badger"s "I Wanna Touch" in the Last Pogo. ALL the bands are red hot and real!  Remastered in DUOPHONIC SOUND!!!

Reviews:

Review by Jack Rabid in "The Big Takeover" issue #63:

"Wow! I’ve been hearing about this 25-minute movie for 29 years, and it’s amazing to view it now! What a window to a time that was rarely documented: the pre-hardcore, original punk era when it was astonishingly fresh, creative, rule-busting, and shot full of newborn energy/excitement. It’s Toronto,  December 3, 1978, a three-camera, good-sounding film (not video) of seven bands (one song each) playing at the farewell concert of premier punk club, The Horseshoe Tavern. The stars are Teenage Head and The Viletones, known from collectible singles—but not footage. Lesser known openers prove equally supercharged, fascinating, and varied. The Scenics open like a Canadian Velvet Underground; Cardboard Brains are more The Weirdos vein; The  Secrets add a taste of R&B/Skulls/Vibrators/U.K. Subs groove; The Ugly ripsnort  through a Dead Boys/Ramones dirty shockwave; and The Mods are Jam clones to a t (or a suit and skinny tie!), but they’re excellent, fierce, and tight; Nazi Dog’s Viletones make magically menacing three-chord rock, and, in the one song they were allowed before cops stopped the show and punters rioted, Teenage Head cooks a classic rock ‘n’ roll infested chaos. Beyond that, is how vivid this film is, of a scene and underground moment it captures. It’s not just the dancing and pogoing creatively dressed, jazzed, skinny people—no idiot slam dancing and sneers—or the notorious sweaty buzz the crowd gets from seven wired, wiry bands, or the pleasant sight of punk’s front row ringed with women—led by impossibly cute punkette co-host Margarita Passion. It’s that this was an art-meets-music lightning flash the likes of which has never been replicated. Short but absolutely essential history comes alive!"

(Three stars out of four)  In 1978 budding filmmaker Colin Brunton shot what was billed as the final punk gig at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern.  Three decades on, his no-frills 26-minute mini-doc has finally made it’s way to DVD.  Sure, most of these bands are long gone and forgotten.  Even so, this literally riotous show is a blast from Can-punk’s young, loud, snotty past.” TORONTO SUN

 

 “…neatly captured the sneer and swagger of 30-year-old punk without snickering or jabbing you in the ribs. The beauty of The Last Pogo is that it is Everypunk’s story. Skinny ties, nerdy lead singers, angry young men, short songs with sharp chords. The brief interviews reveal bursts of enthusiasm, passionate, ideological beliefs, plus the usual in-fighting between bands.” AUSTIN CHRONICLE, TEXAS

As much as a fan that I am of Canadian punk rock, I have to admit that my knowledge and collection are lacking in bands and information from the Eastern part of our country. I can tell you anything you need to know about The Subhumans, DOA, SNFU, Nomeansno, or Dayglo Abortions, but other than Teenage Head, The Viletones, and Forgotten Rebels, I really have no sense of history as to what was happening out there at the dawn of punk.

Well, I wonder no more, as The Last Pogo has been released on DVD to fill in some blanks for me. Originally filmed in 1978 at the Horseshoe Tavern on the last night of punk bands after being kicked out, the movie showcases just what was going on in  Toronto back then. Of course, Teenage Head and The Viletones are here, which is to be expected, but I was truly taken aback by how much I dug the other bands on here, especially The Scenics. 

Visually, the film is a sight to behold: classic grainy, ‘70s film at its finest featuring a bunch of weirdoes in a really smoky bar playing strange music. I love it! It really reminds me of a live Stompin’ Tom Connors movie from the same era. Something about the vibe of this film is distinctly Canadian and I like that. I’d like to think that in any city across this country that a riot would break out if you cut Teenage Head off after one song. This is a great little history lesson that I would recommend to anyone. –Ty Stranglehold, Razorcakes

 “The Last Pogo is a great piece of original Canadian punk history from the ’70s. It deals with an event at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern that ended a nine-month run of spectacular punk and new wave bands from around the world gracing the venue’s stage. When the club owners had had enough, the promoters, the infamous Garys, decided to have one final blowout to celebrate their tenure.

Thus, The Last Pogo was born and a chaotic collection of Toronto punkers like The Ugly, The Mods, The Scenics, The Secrets, The Viletones and Teenage Head thrashed about for all they were worth. In fact, they got so out of control the cops showed up and only let Teenage Head do one song, which, of course, led to a riot that saw the club get somewhat trashed.

This 26 minute documentary was actually the first film by Canadian filmmaker Colin Brunton, who has since produced such films as Cube and Hedwig And The Angry Inch and has currently been working on CBC’s Little Mosque On The Prairie.

The film resembles a good punk song in several different ways. It’s not overly long, it’s in your face and you’re left wanting more. Luckily, we will get just that, as Brunton appears to be using this to get the buzz going for 2010 when he releases a feature length documentary entitled The Last Pogo Jumps Again, a history of the Toronto-Hamilton-London punk axis circa ‘76-78 CHART ATTACK 

 

SUBURBAN VOICE, BOSTON:there’s also a full recorded-in-the-studio set from the Scenics that showcases their taut approach.”

MONTREAL MIRROR bonus footage of a cable TV performance by highly underrated Scenics proves quality will always win out over quantity.

The Last Pogo enters the digital age with a re-release on DVD, with bonus footage of The Scenics playing their surprisingly new wave sounding stuff with off beat lyrics about wanting to go out, catch a fish and eat it. Not exactly punk, but back then acts like the Talking Heads were branded as a punk band too. Tiny Mixtapes

 TORONTO STAR, TORONTO:  “Punker than you’ll ever be.”