Punk pioneer comes home
Former Red Fisher frontman returns to the ’Peg as a member of Mico
Anthony Augustine

It’s been over 11 years since Winnipeg punk band Red Fisher first released its debut CD, War Wagon, on the then-fledgling co-operative label G7 Welcoming Committee Records.

Unfortunately Red Fisher didn’t stick around long enough to enjoy the success the album surely would have brought them.

Fast-forward to October 2006, and G7 is not only re-releasing War Wagon as its first digital reissue but it’s also handling Our Living Language, the new album from Mico, former Red Fisher frontman John Stewart’s eight-year-old project.

Some things have changed over the years, but Stewart’s commitment to the principles that have propelled him since he started playing guitar at 15 have not wavered.

“Punk rock is more than a commercialized music genre,” Stewart explains over the phone from his apartment in Vancouver. “Punk rock is an ideology that I stand behind. It is doing things for yourself, taking control and not letting other people manipulate you for their own interests.

“That is who I was when I was 15 listening to the Dead Kennedys. That is who I am now. Those DIY ideals have definitely stuck with me all these years. They may have softened up a little bit, but I firmly believe that the more hands-on you are, whether you are an artist or a business person, the better understanding and success you are going to have.

“Putting your blind faith into other people just promotes greed. Those ideals are still with me — it is what I believe and it is a big part of who I am.”

Formed in 1988, Red Fisher was part of the second wave of Winnipeg punk rock, which included bands such as Propagandhi, 12 Eyes and Guy Smiley. Like most musicians, Stewart was influenced by the bands he grew up watching at all-ages shows and whose music became the soundtrack for his BMX and skateboarding sessions.

“I was just really into punk rock,” Stewart says. “ I really looked up to (local bands) Personality Crisis, Stretchmarks, The Unwanted and The Ruggedy Annes.”

One of Winnipeg’s hardest working bands during the ’90s, Red Fisher endlessly crossed Canada, creating a dedicated fan base and putting on legendary live shows that became an intimate part of the mythology of Winnipeg’s burgeoning music scene. The band’s distinctive mix of pop-influenced punk and political themes also influenced many Winnipeg groups.

Although Red Fisher split up soon after the release of War Wagon — when Stewart moved to Banff for a career in downhill bike racing — its legacy as one of Peg City’s most important bands has only been solidified with the G7 re-release. Stewart sometimes wonders what direction the trio would have taken had it stuck together, but he’s not one to look back.

“The last two years Red Fisher was a band, we had more opportunities offered to us in the way of labels trying to sign us or people offering us tours” Stewart explains. “It was either give up that opportunity to race and probably never have that opportunity again or take the opportunity with the bike stuff because the music will always be there.

“I have no regrets at all. I am really glad I chose that, because I was able to have a successful career in racing and still be involved in music. I am really happy that I was able to do that.”

A few years after moving out to Banff, Stewart formed Mico with drummer Troy Fleischhaker and started to slowly build a following in Calgary’s somewhat-stale music scene. The guard was changing in Calgary at the time, with bands such as Wagbeard, Chixdiggit and Huevos Rancheros disbanding and only one club promoting rock shows. Thus it was tough for Stewart to essentially start over.

“When we first started out, it was tough to get shows or any recognition. It was CJSW ( 90.9 FM) that made people recognize what we were doing,” Stewart says. “That is the power of campus and community radio.”

Mico has now has three full-length albums, a 10-inch release and some seven-inch singles to its credit, and the band is now a collective due to members moving and changing priorities.

“For me, it is more of a project when I have time to get people together and record songs,” Stewart says. “If someone wants to put out the record, then we will put out the record, but if no one wants to put out the record, we will just make it available for download for free somewhere.”

Our Living Language, the band’s second release for G7, may only see digital release (aside from what the band has pressed to sell on tour), but it might just be Mico’s strongest disc.

“The vision I have had as a songwriter has always been there,” Stewart says. “It may have changed from record-to-record because we are human beings and we change or our interests change, but I like the direction the album took.”

Mico will head out on a Western jaunt, but the digital release means the band won’t be forced into an endless tour.

“Another huge thing for me personally is that doing a digital release takes so much pressure off me to go on tour for months and months to try to recoup the cost of the album,” Stewart says. “It is a really streamlined and ecologically friendly way to release a record without all the bureaucracy.”

Along with logging time on the road with burnthe8track this past summer, recording material with Projektor and playing shows with Mico, Stewart has been recruited as the new guitarist for Vancouver glam punks The Black Halos. More than just a hired gun, Stewart will become a full member of the group and will head into the studio in January to record a new disc for Sub Pop. The release should be out by summer, and the band will head to Europe to tour this spring.

“You have to diversify and be willing to try new things. For me, that is a challenge” says the charismatic former Winnipeg BMX champ. “I like to be challenged.”

Web Extras

Mico — myspace.com/micoband

Red Fisher — myspace.com/redfisher666

The Black Halos — blackhalos.net