Canada, to be exact.

Sometime in late 2004, my sister and I — with urging from Paul Wilkerson of the now defunct Tacoma band Who Cares — headed north one evening. Who Cares — or at least the part of the band that was allowed to travel outside the country — had a show in Vancouver, B.C., with legendary punk band the Dayglo Abortions. Wilkerson insisted it was a show not to be missed. Though my sister and I had no money, no real plan, and no idea what to expect, we hopped in the car and made the drive. 

 

While Wilkerson has been known to stretch the truth upon occasion, in this instance he couldn’t have been more dead-on. To say the Dayglo Abortions put on an impressive show that night in their hometown would be an understatement. To say the band owned the stage, the crowd and all the spilled beer, spiked hair, tattoos and piercing in between would be far more accurate.  

 

My sister and I, both born during the ’80s, were in for quite a punk rock education. If we didn’t appreciate the Dayglo Abortions going in, by the time things were said and done our perspective had certainly changed. 

There’s a reason this band is legendary — and only part of it has to do with their seminal albums and controversial lyrics. The Dayglo Abortions are punk the way it was meant to be — a hyperactive mix of three-chord rock, splices of metal and enough tongue-in-cheek, adolescent style gross-out moves to base a band around. It’s a time-tested recipe — and, in the case of the Dayglo Abortions, it works to perfection.

This Saturday, Oct. 18, the Dayglo Abortions will play Hell’s Kitchen along with the Accused, Broken Oars, I Defy, and the Blackout Kings. If punk rock is your bag — this is the show to base your week around. 

But maybe, like my sister and me that fateful evening in 2004, you’re not a punk rock aficionado. Maybe you don’t know all there is to know about the Dayglo Abortions, and could use a little primer going into Saturday’s show at Hell’s Kitchen.

 

If that’s the case, here are a few things you should know about the Dayglo Abortions.

• The band formed in 1979 and released their first record, Out of the Womb, in 1981.


• Currently, the band consists of members Jesus Bonehead, The Cretin, Gymbo Jak and Willy Jak — though former members include guitarists Squid, Gretzky, Anus and Hung.


• The band’s 1987 record, Here Today, Guano Tomorrow, helped garner the Dayglo Abortions’ national prominence thanks to its controversial content — which even in Canada is enough to make squares squirm. The front of the album featured a hamster, some chocolates, satin sheets and a handgun. The back of the record featured, well, a dead hamster.


• Thanks to Here Today, Guano Tomorrow, along with the Dayglo Abortions’ previous record, Feed Us Fetus — which featured Ron and Nancy Reagan seated at a table in front of a baked fetus — the Dayglo Abortions and their record label at the time, Fringe Product, were prosecuted in Canada for an alleged violation of the country’s obscenity law. The jury, however, found the band and the label not guilty.

Saturday, Oct. 18, the Dayglo Abortions will play Hell’s Kitchen in Tacoma. Whether you’re a veteran of Tacoma’s punk rock scene, or just a newbee learning the ropes of punk and what it means to stick a clothespin through your skin, this show promises to be legendary — much like the band headlining it.  Whether you’ve learned anything from this column or not — and you probably haven’t — know that when the Dayglo Abortions play Hell’s Kitchen it’s a show not to be missed. 

[Hell’s Kitchen, Casey’s Birthday Show with Dayglo Abortions, The Accused, Broken Oars, The Blackout Kings and I Defy, Saturday, Oct. 18, 8 p.m., $10, 3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]

Money changes everything via e-mail to mattd@weeklyvolcano.com.