The American Devices

The American Devices can best be described as a powerful yet convoluted entity whose chronic obscurity is overshadowed only by an unrelenting commitment to the punk & post-punk ethos they helped introduce to an unsuspecting nation over twenty five years ago.

These legendary no-wave forefathers first saw the light with the meeting of Montreal south-shore teens Rick Trembles and Rob Labelle, who in the 70s were mainly absorbed in the middling pre-punk counterculture of the day & all its trappings. Building on a burgeoning canon of early punk influences such as The Germs, The Contortions, & The Buzzcocks, Labelle and Trembles broke out of that stifling environment with respective groups The Normals (one of Montreal’s very first punk bands, circa 1977) and The Electric Vomit. Trembles and Labelle would form the American Devices in 1980, expanding musically while remaining rooted in punk & no-wave as well as their enthusiasm for the likes of Captain Beefheart, Jimi Hendrix & bubblegum music.

This American Devices 25 year retrospective released on Grenadine in 2005 traces the development of The American Devices with the help of extensive liner notes by Rick Trembles delineating the history of a group whose membership has included the likes of Dave Hill (Men Without Hats, Three O’clock Train), Chris Burns (Terminal Sunglasses, Crackpot) and Jackie Gallant (Lesbians On Ecstasy) among many others.

The group’s current incarnation also includes drummer Howard Chakowitz and bassist Andre Asselin. Chakowitz & Trembles are both visual artists renowned for alternative/underground comix & animated films while Asselin boasts an equally long list of musical collaborations in experimental rock & jazz (Sam Shalabi, Nutsak, Swamp Circuit).

Press:
"...these multitalented nuts can be heard pounding and assaulting their instruments into a push'n'shove, guitar-detailed dreamland." - Flipside Magazine

"Songs are uniformly busy with guitar riffs that veer into surprising directions ("Trigger Off" suggests what the Grateful Dead might sound like if they played hardcore before jumping into a thrash/wah realm of smile-pop), but they're sculpted into the mix in more of an art/pop than hard rock way." - Alternative Press Magazine

Grenadine Discography:
2006 - GREN016: 'The American Devices' CD

Links:
www.snubdom.com/