Simply Saucer

Their home was Hamilton, ON. The time was 1973 to ‘79. Their sound: archaic, punk, psychedelic, otherworldly, cool. Their scene: alone. "We were similar in a way to Cleveland's Rocket from the Tombs [who evolved into the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu] in that we were our own gang of musical mercenaries and never really part of any scene," says Edgar Breau, vocalist, guitarist, primary writer of the universally notorious ultra underground Simply Saucer, a long-defunct band that’s become more and more infamous internationally. "It's very odd, the notoriety in the manner in which it occurred. We left only a quirky 45 in '79 after our break-up. All the band members dispersed to the four winds. All that was left was debris. Later on, having ditched the electronics and added a guitar player from Teenage Head, we landed in the T.O. punk maelstrom but found no lasting home or soul mates. I corresponded with Craig Bell of the Rockets and he had a similar wilderness experience." Somehow, this 45 found its way across the globe and struck the souls of hipsters and musical anarchists like Sonic Youth, and in 1989, the initial version of Cyborgs Revisited, a compilation of previously unreleased live and studio tracks (recorded in Bob and Danny Lanois's mother's basement) was released and made more tidal waves of appreciation. What do the Saucer sound like? "It was a bit of a mix," explains a modest Breau. "I was listening to everyone from Lightnin' Hopkins, to Balinese music, to bird sounds (literally) to John Coltrane, Nico, and John Fahey to pre-punk New York bands like Velvet Underground and Television and other Euro stuff like Can.” Sonic Unyon, who have recently retrofitted Cyborgs with a new aluminium base encoded with previously unreleased bonus tracks (restored lo-fi live cassettes, demos and their seven-inch) and insightful liner notes chronicling the Saucer (plus raving quotes from major music press), instantly making a classic of a classic from a classic band. It's a saucerful of freak-out secrets.