CCS Rights Management Dives Into Canadian Post-Punk Era

By Kerry Doole

Toronto’s CCS Rights Management has launched a project to gather neglected Canadian alternative music from the '70s to the '90s, with the goal of creating a unique pool of music that will be marketed to the creative industries.

The venture was sparked by the book  'Alone and Gone: The Story of Toronto’s Post Punk Underground,' by musician/author Nick Smash (Rent Boys Inc), and it reflects a growing interest in this underground scene. In a press release, Smash explains “As we sail ever torturously into the early 21st century with its myriad multimedia opportunities there is a Canadian publishing company [CCS]  who share my confused state of mind about this era’s ‘lost’ music and want to do something to try and fix that.”

CCS Rights Management founder Jodie Ferneyhough and CCS’ UK Creative Manager Ian Gilchrist (a Toronto expat) are spearheading the project and are seeking the music of Canada’s left of centre artists of the ‘80s and early ‘90s.

They have the support of Cowboy Junkies leader Michael Timmins, whose re-Junkies group The Hunger Project has signed up. He states that “Toronto had an amazing underground music scene and community in the late 1970s and on. The scene was created and functioned completely outside of the ‘music biz’ - it was all about exploration and creation and expression.  Just a small portion of that music was caught on tape but it's exciting that some of it may now be given its due 35 years later.”

Other bands on board include The Government, Rent Boys Inc, Sturm Group, The Young Lions, Stark Naked and the Fleshtones, Tulpa, and A Neon Rome.

These are all Toronto combos, but Gilchrist says "I’m very keen to hear from musicians from across the country who were active from the late ‘70s to the early ‘90s. Just like the scene was in that really incredible era when few rules applied, the post punk project is inclusive.”

To have your music be part of the project, contact him at ian@ccsrightsmanagement.com