Riot 303

Today i managed to buy a record that is pretty much at the top of my "want list". I'm talking about the Canadian Hardcore-Punk classic "Crowd Control" by Calgary's own RIOT 303! I owned a copy of this record years ago, i was actually given a copy by the old drummer for Riot 303 when i was 17years old and hanging out in Calgary for a weekend. I liked the record alot but I sold the record in a desperate attempt to get some money to party. I've regretted selling that record ever since (along with the rock n roll bitches single i sold that day).
Anyhow, today i scored a copy of the record for a bargain basement price from this guy Jody (who used to sing for a great Vancouver band called Strain). It's a funny story about how this sale came to be; i filled out this silly survey about music on myspace, and the last question was "what's on your want list right now" and when Jody read that i wanted Riot 303 he emailed to bug me that he in fact had one. I emailed him back and totally off-the-cuff made him an offer, which he didn't respond to. Fast forward to this past weekend and he emailed me to ask i'd be at Scratch Tuesday because he wanted to sell me the record!! It feels good to have this record again, not only because it kicks ass musically but because of the situation involved with me selling the record many years ago.
Man, this 7" is so damn good! It came out in 1982, and the band featured Ron Hadley who later sang for Beyond Possession, Al played guitar (later he played in Von Zippers), Mark played drums (later played in Forbidden Dimension) and the bassist was in some other bands but i can't recall. The sound is classic early 80's hardcore punk, with rough & burly vocals. I guess some comparisons can be drawn towards DOA, but maybe a bit harder. The song "Drugs" is one of my favorite hardcore songs.