Daddy's Hands was a experimental punk/no-wave band from Victoria B.C. As one of the most notorious bands to come out of the Victoria d.i.y circuit Daddy's Hands paved the way for many emerging experimental indie rock acts in Canada, despite being relatively unknown internationally. Daddy's Hands started out around 1995/1996 as a continuation of Dave Wenger's previous band Ache Hour Credo. The band immediately set themselves apart from Wenger's previous projects (Breakwater & M Blanket) and the rest of the scene; carving out their own incredibly unique sound, mixing elements of punk, noise, experimental music, no-wave, outsider music and rockabilly.
The first two demo tapes are more punk-inclined but still push the envelope in terms of experimentation and the use of unconventional instrumentation like saxophone. A few stand out tracks to me are "Statistics Wigs", "I Wanna Be Inflated" and "Strangled Planet". These tracks demonstrate the creativity and tightness of the band during this period; as well as their uncanny ability to create incredibly emotional and relatable songs, despite Dave Wenger's trademark sardonic and cryptic lyrics sometimes obscuring the true meaning of the songs.
The bands first album "Tutankhamun" is where the bands creative prowess peaked (in my opinion), their experimentation was at an all time high, mixing synth rock with old school rockabilly and punk sensibilities. The simple yet impactful "Incest At Best" and the horrifically sad nonsense song, sung by the bassist Emily, "Baby's Fire" are great stand out tracks from this album. Unfortunately shortly after the album released, Emily Bauslaugh passed away from an overdose. Daddy's Hands existence was very threatened and tumultuous after this event, with Dave Wenger's self destructive antics becoming more and more pronounced (reportedly he used to go into biker bars just to kiss the biggest, scariest dude and consequently, get the shit kicked out of him).
It took the remaining members 5 years to piece together the last album "Welcome Kings", which (again in my opinion) didn't match the infectious energy of their previous releases. 3 days before the album was set to release, lead singer/guitarist Dave Wenger was killed in a hit and run accident while he was walking home at night. Despite the inherent tragedy of the bands existence, Daddy's Hands created some incredibly creative and inspiring tracks during their time together as a band; I'm certain their legacy will not be forgotten anytime soon and will continue to inspire Canadian artists for years to come.
While the band has a lengthy released discography from the get-go i've heard that there is an insane amount of demo and practice recordings that have yet to leak. For the time being I will have their released discography linked here and I will update with unreleased tracks as I find them.
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