music Soundproof II LONG time ago. when music videos were a revolutionary new form of entertainment, many a restless channel- hopping Friday night shut-in unexpectedly happened upon an alternative televi- sion experience. Tucked snugly before a wacmly flickering screen, the local cable viewer who tuned into Sound- proof knew he or she had switch- ed on to something dangerous and silly. Soundproof hosts Dave Tod- dington and Martin Stubbs (Buzz E. Miller) loosely directed the mayhem from Shaw Cable’s North Vancouver video control room. While delightfully twisted ‘‘alter- native’ sounds and images mess- ed with your mind Dave, Buzz E. and company cut the weirdness with wacky sophomoric, in-studio hijinks. But one day, several years ago, cable subscribers who had grown accustomed to a weekly fix of alternative video culture awoke to find the plug had beer pulled on Soundproot access beyond the geographical confines of the North Shore. According to Toddington it had something to do with licensing. While the alternative-minded con- tinued to receive Soundproof (in stereo locally with a receiver tun- ed to 88.2 on your FM dial) on the North Shore, outcasts seeking music video entertainment ‘“‘over town” simply made do with mainstream offerings. The good news is that Sound- proof is back on air in Vancouver, 26 - Wednesday, September 19. 1990 — North Shore News ~ TROOPE R H e 2.6 litre multi-port fuel injection or V-6 * power steering e 4wheel power disk brakes e 4 whee! drive e 4 doors 10.9% financing oac. 48 month term SPRINGMAN PASSPORT LANGLEY CALL COLLECT 530-2886 MICHAEL BECKER record review Burnaby and Richmond. Province rock music critic Tom Harrison hasts a new and improved version that includes coverage of the iocal arts community. Music Now recently visited Soundproof central and caught up with Dave Toddington while he was editing an installment of the show. Music Now: How has the show format changed over the years? Toddington: “Tom Harrison hosted it when we started about 13 years ago and we used to bring hands into the studio. This was be- fore the advent of rock videos. We featured bands like the K-Tels, D.O.A. That was the initial format of the program. Of course then rack videas came out. When we started, there was MTV in the States. It was a big buzz and that was about it. Everybody was talk- ing about them (music videos), nobody was seeing them. A lot of clubs were putting in videos. We realized there was a need to put videos on the air so that’s basically what we did. “The show is no longer shot in the control room. We're out in the field. Tom is the host. Martin and ! don’t host it anymore. | produce the program, | work with the re- cord companies, put together the AAR get 20510 langley Bypass, Langley The legend returns... playlist, suggest guests, book things. balsa have a co-producer, Bob Thetriault. Bob ts another stat! peron here. Martin helps me wath the direction or the prowram “Ws important that it maintains the roots. I'd still ike to break some of the rules of television — do things that aren't done on standard television. The camera is very much a character, we don't use irtpods. We break rules all the time in the sense that is not con- trived. We don’t carefully plan things out. We ler things untold.” Music Now: With all of the money being poured into mainstream music videos these days is there still room fer the strange and the obscure? Toddington: ‘There will always be an alternative medium. And f certainly see that with a lot of the videos we play. For example a video we are playing on tonight's show was produced on eight-mm video cassette by a band called Consolidated from San Francisco. Essentially the video was produced for under $50, Maybe some of the larger acts are having money put into them, | don’t know. Maybe there isn't the kind of money go- ing into them that was once the case. The record companies have to produce so many of the darn things. “But the genre of music we're concerned with is still seeing budget videos, anc that’s good.” Music Now: How is the video playlist chasen? Toddington: ‘Basically the same as it has always been. We play things that we like. It's that simple. We're not in the business of get- ting ratings.” SAAB Springman Passport has expanded to include the sale and service of the famous SAAB automobile line-up. WE HAVE A FACTORY SPECIFICATION BODYSHOFP! MONDAY NIGHT® ff o/_, FOOTBALL This Week's Game ee _ BUFFALO at NEW YORK JETS , Play QB1, win a trip to Reno... See club for details. Game time 6 pm. : - SEPT. 20-21 KEN GUY SATURDAY IS KARAOKE NIGHT * COMING SOON * gd KARAOKE WEDNESDAY The Coach House Inn 700 Lillooet Ra” ~*~ "985-3114. Super Gas economy