Well we kicked of the very first “3 Amigos” radio show on the Drastic Plastic Program on CKUT FM last night and man oh man was it a wild introduction to the airwaves! The 3 Amigos in case you are wondering are: Doug Ford, the longtime host of the Drastic Plastic Program on CKUT FM here in Montreal and a man who’s taste in rock and roll runs the gamut from thrashy noise punk, eclectic alt country to demented garage rock and roll and everything in between; Armitage Shanks, a man who’s passion for the UK indie scene is possibly only exceeded by his devotion to his beloved Manchester United and yours truly, who tries to keep the rock and roll fires burning on the radio by playing only the finest indie and unsigned rock and roll that never gets a fair shake from commercial rock radio. What he have been doing since about last September is rotating in the 10:00 – 11:00 PM time slot on the Drastic Plastic Program so that each of us is on approximately once a month spinning our favourite tunes for our massive fan base of parents, mental patients and late night maintenance men everywhere (by the way the next Rock and Roll Report Radio is January 22nd. Shanks is up on January 15th).

In a hastily converged meeting last week at the legendary Ground Zero Studios amongst bulging boxes of old 7 inch punk vinyl and sagging bookcases of books by or about Lester Bangs, Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac we decided that it would be fun to try and get together once a month on the air and do something as the “3 Amigos” with the obvious starting point being a look back at 2006 and a look ahead to what 2007 may have in store for rock and roll junkies everywhere. That was the plan. The first hour went by without a hitch and some great tunes were played by everybody from The Piper Downs to Liam Frost. The show was fun and once again demonstrated that radio is the ultimate filter provided that the people behind the microphones are passionate about music and have a sense of adventure. What we didn’t expect was for our humble one hour show to evolve into a three hour rock and roll marathon as first the 11:00 PM and then the midnight DJ neglected to show up or otherwise let us know that we were on our own.

To say we had to scramble is an understatement as the three of us raided the “new release” bin and the record library with equal abandon. Playing everything from Quebecois rockers Call Me Poupée to the Ramones to live Paul Weller to a bluegrass version of “Highway Star” by Deep Purple, we had an absolute blast. With selections that alternately flowed seamlessly together or crashed jarringly into each other, the show was part rock and roll love affair and part chaotic sound collage but in the end it demonstrated the beauty of what live radio can provide, something that an iPod shuffle could never do and that is that music is best enjoyed accompanied by context and personality. Be it a live band on a small club stage or a live DJ spinning a story of how the Fleshtones influenced her life and then getting to listen to perhaps something you have never heard before, music by necessity needs the social element of people talking to people to fully exploit its power. Live radio and live music are the reasons we are so passionate about the stuff and I suspect it is also what keeps you going as well.

Needless to say the playlist for last night’s show will not be posted until we can reconstruct what the hell happened last night but you can have a listen to 3 hours of complete and totally live rock and roll radio where 3 friends managed to rock out, stay sane (somewhat) and prove to themselves that radio and rock and roll at the end of the day has to be fun to be good. The laughs were infectious, the music amazing, the experience priceless. What more could one music fanatic ask for on a cold rainy night in Montréal?

Later.