A seasonal thing from long long ago. Way back in the ice-age of about 1986 I got my first portastudio, a Tascam Porta One. The first thing I did with it was to record a Christmas medley armed with guitars, a long forgotten and short lived drum machine and a tiny Casio SK1 micro sampler. This was then mixed onto dozens of cassettes and distributed by hand and post amongst friends and family, many of them may even still have a copy filed away in whatever personal hell they reserve for ancient cassettes.

Back in 2012 I pulled out the  4 track masters to this and transferred them into logic and obviously lacking anything better to do thought it would be fun to reconstruct this ancient tome. I loved the original bass but it was mixed down on one track with the short lived drum machine so I set about recreating it (where on earth did I get the idea to shoehorn Peter Gunn under White Christmas?) and dropped in some loops of real drums. Pretty much everything else from the guitars to the FX track generated with the SK1 is from the original 1986 tapes!

Christmas Medley Redux

John Catto - Christmas Medley Redux

The Diodes recorded live at the Horseshoe June 7th 1980

Live At The Horseshoe June 7th 1980

The Diodes - Rock It Over And Under - Live at the Horseshoe 1980

The Diodes - China Doll - Live at the Horseshoe 1980

Recorded Live off the floor at the Crash 'n' Burn by Bob Segarini and David Stone prob 21st August 1977 (2 days after the club closed) as an instant demo for CBS.

Child Star EP

The Diodes - We're Ripped (Aug 1977 Crash 'n' Burn Demo)

One last track from the El Mocambo broadcast live on CHUM FM March 3rd 1978

The Diodes - Child Star Live at the El Mocambo 1978

From the collection of Terry Hammer who was the sound man at the Mabuhay and recorded virtually everything!!

Live at the Mabuhay San Francisco June 20th 1980

The Diodes - Teenage Nation Live at the Mabuhay Gardens June 20 1980

This really is the most depressing thing I've ever had to find out on the internet. I learned earlier that our wonderful friend Steven died this morning. 

Easily one of the most enthusiastic and interesting people I've ever met, I first met Steven in  1976 when he  burst into my field of vision insisting that what we were playing at HAD to happen. 

As the very first hints surfaced that there might be the seeds of a possible Toronto punk scene, Steven raced around encouraging and handing songs to every new band. I'm not talking about circa the first days of the Horseshoe or any other such nonsense here, I'm talking about MONTHS before we even played our first gig in Jan '77. As a matter of fact, while it isn't true that the Dishes played with The Talking Heads at A-Space I wouldn't put it past Steven being the guy who put the idea in our head to contact and and manipulate their presence to launch the whole damn thing. Later he just as quickly separated himself from it all, I think he maybe did it just to see if "he could". I also later found out he'd been doing the same thing with all the other bands including the much seen hanging around but never gigged VileTones. The fact is that without Steven none of us might ever of made it onto a stage, he chipped away at the obstacles until he saw it happen. 

In any case the moment he discovered our embryonic existence Steven would turn up to almost every rehearsal offering support, suggestions and brandishing songs. He played us several but this is the one that stuck, the subject matter will seem more than a little inappropriate and certainly irreverent. I don't think he'd have it any other way. RIP Steven Davey 1951-2014.

from the 1978 Chum FM live broadcast of The Diodes from the El Mocambo

The Diodes - I'm In A Coma (written by Steven Davey) Live at the El Mocambo 1978

Recorded during our UK rehearsals in 2010

John Catto, Paul Robinson, Ian Mackay, John Andrew

Recorded by John Catto & Robert Godfrey. All post production and mix John Catto

The Diodes -  No Right To Make Me Bleed 2010

Mayhem Deranged - Love Missile

My remix for the Poly Styrene "No Rockefeller"  Remix Competition

No Rockefeller [John Catto  Ideal World  Mix]

The Diodes - Eaton Square - Morgan Studios April 1982

Recorded at Marigold Studios early 1983
John Catto Guitar, Paul Robinson Vocals, Steve Robinson Bass, Richard Citroen Drums

Marigold Studios Dec 1982

The Diodes - Watch Them Face The World - Marigold Studios 1983

Recorded at Marigold Studios early 1983
John Catto Guitar, Paul Robinson Vocals, Steve Robinson Bass, Richard Citroen Drums, backups Abbey and Lee Sax John Leonard.

The Diodes - Write It Down - Marigold Studios 1983

The Diodes - A Splash Of Black - Marigold Studios 1983

The Diodes - Corinna

Noise Full Version

The Diodes - Noise (Full Length Edit) 1977

Live at the Fiddlers Elbow May 5th 2016 London
Guitar - John Catto
Vox - Paul Robinson
Drums - John Andrew
Bass - Rob Godfrey

Fiddlers Elbow May 5th 2016

The Diodes - The Girl Sees Things

The Diodes - Tired Of Waking Up Tired

Canalot Tapes

Olimax & John Catto - Apache [First Version]

Recorded at Manchester Square Feb 1984
on this
John Catto - all guitars
Paul Robinson - Vox
Steve Robinson - Bass
Rick Zsigmond - Drums
David Buckley - backup vox

The Manchester Square Tapes

High Noon - Der Blau Reiter (Feb 12-14 1984 Manchester Square)

Recorded at Manchester Square Dec 1983
on this
John Catto - all guitars
Paul Robinson - Vox
Steve Robinson - Bass
Rick Zsigmond - Drums
David Buckley - backup vox

High Noon - Call Of The Wild (Dec 17/18 1983 Manchester Square)

Recorded at Manchester Square May 14th 1984
on this
John Catto - all guitars
Paul Robinson - Vox
Steve Robinson - Bass
Rick Zsigmond - Drums
David Buckley - backup vox

High Noon - Corinna (May 14 1984 Manchester Square)

I was and am the guitarist and songwriter for Canadian punk band The Diodes and writer of our single "Tired Of Waking Up Tired" (recently listed as number 23 in the top 100 Canadian singles of all time http://www.amazon.co.uk/Top-100-Canadian-Singles/dp/0864925379/) . We were originally operative from 1976 till 1983, as of the summer of 2007 we are now back in business. I currently reside in London England and have played with/on and done remixes of a wide variety of artists including The Grid, Adamski, Olimax and DJ Schapps, Jeremy Gluck, Phil Dirtbox, Ricky Gervais, Sex Sex Sex (with Eric Débris), The Tiger Lilies and many more. I also have been a member over the last few years of Mayhem Deranged with Rob Godfrey & Ray Mayhew (ex Sigue Sigue Sputnik)

Check out the Diodes at 

http://thediodestoronto.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/46862397661/ for more info

mondocatto

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