"I put out a whole stack of our flyers in between the CDs at HMV today," War on Music Co-op Record Store member Brandon Ackerman says.

The ad flyer for War on Music Worker Cooperative at 333 Garry St. features a photo of the store under the heading "large corporate music retailers put local stores out of business."

"If you look at the principles behind War on Music, we are a participatory economic enterprise," confirms member Charley, who insists on going by the surname Justice.

Charley plays in a gaggle of underground Winnipeg bands, the main one being Minority Justice League, and he also serves in the "upcoming" Evil Survives and Legerdemain, but let's blast back to War on Music - whose address is, as Justice says, "halfway to hell."

"We want to smash capitalism in a way that everyone's comfortable with," Justice continues with enough professorial enthusiasm to appear co-operatively motivational.

He's got this stuff down in a way that's mind-bending yet rational beyond belief. Maybe someday Charley will record a professional pitch album to entice non-believers and capitalist burnouts to the way of cooperating in biz.

"We're not an exclusive space..." he says. "On the surface we appear to be an underground independent record store, but we are a deeply political space. Our politics are reflected primarily in the nature of our economic structure.

"We wanted to make this space a resource center for local bands," Justice continues. "Bands can consign their merchandise to us without getting ripped off.

"We also do professional in-house silkscreening in our basement. We basically stock your band's merch table - T-shirts, hoodies, patches, buttons - all for reasonable prices cheaper than anywhere else, cheaper than the private parts."

As of press time War on Music has been open for less than a week, and a quick trip through the freshly painted, dark-walled space proved to be educational and entertaining. Two photocopiers are housed at the front of the store so bands can use them to make gig flyers and handbills to promote their shows.

Pre-Joy Division Warsaw skooshed over the computer sound system as arcade games - flanked by walls of discs and vinyl - lit up the back.

I picked up three buttons I've never seen before by the better-than-Led Zep Angry Samoans, Flipper and The Sonics, plus a seven-inch EP by Finnish HC legends Riistetyt and an Under Pressure 12-inch. The two Fix LPs that I had seen a week earlier while I was browsing were long gone.

"We sold a shwack load of records in the past week, and new boxes keep rolling in. We stock everything from At the Gates to At the Drive-In. From Crass to Carcass, we've got what you want," Justice pitches. "No pop-fueled bullshit.

"As far as our stock, we have a 50-50 split of CDs and vinyl. We like to go through small-scale distributors where possible," Justice continues. "We find the shit you can't get anywhere else in Winnipeg. The stuff you find online or anywhere else for 30 bucks we have for half price."

Oddly enough, Justice and Ackerman say the idea for War on Music came from a mutual interest in arcade games.

"Me and Brandon had just hooked up a bunch of cheap arcade machines, and the idea coalesced into the state of our current project," Justice says. "Winnipeg has a strong co-operative sector. I gained valuable experience with co-operative enterprise while working at Mondragon. Other members such as Paul Phillips gained co-op experience at Organic Planet.

"All members of War on Music maintain an equal share of equity in the business. Through a committee structure there are no bosses, no managerial hierarchy. Currently, corporate enterprise dominates political and economic decision-making.

"Essentially, if more enterprises were run like this then the power of decision-making would be placed back in the hands of the workers."

"We're having an all-ager fundraiser at Mondragon on June 29," Ackerman adds. "On June 29, Search & Destroy, Born Bad and The Agitations are playing. Then on June 30th at War on Music we're featuring free arcade games and kegs of root beer."

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