Lucky Ones punk to the bone
Steve “Stumble” Levitt of The Lucky Ones began listening to punk at 14.
His prize memorabilia includes a framed Sex Pistols “Who Killed Bambi” seven-inch record and his Joe Strummer collection from postcards to autographed Joe Strummer poster.
“I am kind of a Clash geek,” admits Stumble with a raucous laugh.
Stumble’s first gig was Jerry’s Alley in his “past-its-industrialprime-now-turning-too touristy” hometown of St. Catharines.
“Jerry’s was a punk bar,” he says. “Every underground band played there. I was 16 or 17 when I started performing.” recalls Stumble, proud to be a musical outlaw.
The Lucky Ones is a hi-octane pack who honour the best in old school punk from Sham 69, The Sex Pistols, and The Damned, to Canada’s bad-ass boys like Teenage Head, DOA, Dayglo Abortions, Forgotten Rebels, and The Mahones.
Members include Stumble, vocals; Robbie “Knuckles” Passero, bass/vocals; Chris “The Doctor” Nowicki, guitar/vocals; and Eric Hutt, drums.
In the early ’90s to 2000, Stumble (who modelled his vocals after the late Teenage Head frontman Frankie Venom) was in a punk band called Sick Boys.
Robbie played in a band called Supergarage. “We always did the shows together,” says Stumble. “I have known Robbie forever and then Eric played in another band called The Strange. He moved to China or something and then he ended up joining us. Chris also had an old band and a punk band. Robbie and Chris would write the tunes and then ask me if I can come and sing. And I thought after Sick Boys I never wanted to be in another band again,” he says with a laugh.
Their debut album “The Booze Sessions” came out in 2010, to rave reviews followed by 2012’s “Heartbreak Hangovers and Punk Rock.”
The band blazed a trail through regional clubs including Kitchener’s old Circus Room and Bobby O’Brien’s to the festival circuit sharing stages with USS, The Forgotten Rebels, and NOFX.
Thanks to old Supergarage vocalist Marco DiFelice, who works for a company that secures song rights for production, The Lucky Ones also had songs on television shows “Lost Girl” in addition to “Orphan Black” including the “OB” soundtrack.
The latest release “Better Late Than Never” took five years to make.
In true punk spirit the album is peppered with profanity, rousing choruses, and fast-paced searing guitar licks and “bad Niagara jokes,” as The Lucky Ones joyfully slag everything in sight including themselves on “Old School Punk Rockers.”
They also razz band member/ drummer Matt “3 Pack” Murphy with “Matty’s Going to Play Pop Songs,” local dive bar Carlton Heights Pub in “Monday Night at Carlton Heights” and local newspaper St. Catharines Standard with their cheeky album cover, a faux page from the “The SubStandard.”
“This album is strange,” he says. “We were in the studio and then the producer did not want to finish it. We sat on it for a couple of years and then we went back and redid stuff and did it again. A couple of songs were from tribute albums [for Dropkick Murphys, and The Vindictives]. Then we did some songs with Shohei Shiraishi of Japanese Oi! punk band Samurai Attack. It is like a compilation of songs.
Producer Steve Rizun “is great,” says Stumble. “He captures our sound really well and we loved working with him but he always has so much on the go and he is all over the place. We seem to be last on the priority list because it took a while to finish the album.”
Album track “Better Days” was is a music video made for free through Niagara College, and Stumble says the band is also planning a video for “Old School Punk Rockers,” depending on the band’s crazy work schedules.
“For the next album we are going to go in and do some cover stuff but weird tunes like Bruce Springsteen. It will be songs that no one would expect us to do and we’ll just change them!”