The Wongs w/ Mr. Chi Pig
by xinit • 2/8/2009 • music • 15 Comments
Mr. Chi Pig has been in a couple bands during the frequent breakups of the more famous band, SNFU. One of those bands was The Wongs which mostly played live in Western Canada, and with only one rather rare EP that they sold at shows. I’m not even sure if this is the whole of the EP, let alone what the names of the tracks are, as there was no real label left and no case. The tape wasn’t in stellar condition, and the recording equipment to import the tape was having issues too, so I had to speed the digital files up in Audacity by about 9-13% until the vocals sounded like Chi; the audio was pitching further down as the tape went on, so #4 had to be sped up more than #1…
I don’t know the names that were given to these songs for the EP or what the name of the EP was, so I’ve had to guess. I don’t know if there were more than 4 tracks, or really much else; I’ll pester Chi next time I see him – maybe he remembers.
EP name? Song titles? Band lineup? When and where this was recorded? There’s very little information that I know here… If anyone knows any detail, please leave a comment. (Updated the file names based on Kevin’s information Oct 24, 2009)
The Wongs – “Demo Tape EP”
1 – Haven’t Felt in a Long Time
2 – People as Windows
3 – If Only for a Day
4 – The Fence
The audio isn’t fantastic, and I’ve encoded them as rather large files (~7MB each @ 320kpbs) mostly because I was just setup to encode at 320; they could likely be compressed to 128kbps without suffering.
I’ve also put up a zip file if you prefer to download just the one file.
Hi,
Thanks for your interest. The Wongs were around from 1989 to 1991. The members were Chi, myself on guitar, Ralph Allan on bass and Kerr Belliveau on the drums. The recordings were done in 1990 at Profile Studios in Vancouver, engineered by Cecil English. In order the songs were “Haven’t Felt in a Long Time,” “People as Windows,” “If Only for a Day,” and “The Fence.” Several more were recorded as well. A complete version of the ep should be available this year, remixed as the original mix has disappeared.
Cheers,
Kevin Rose
lemonloaf@shaw.ca
That’s brilliant, Kevin. Thanks for the info on the production and the real names of the tracks. Looking forward to it. It’ll be the closest thing to hearing new Chi Pig recordings short of someone actually dragging his ass into a studio again.
If you get the chance to do that, though…
These songs were great! I had been searching far and wide to finally hear The Wongs.
Kevin I would love the full version of the EP so please let me know when it is available!
thanks so much,
Kyle
Hi!
I heard about Wongs in the latest documentary about Chi, so I’m very grateful for this download here.
First I was a little puzzled, cuz I have some other Wongs in my collection, but this is just awesome.
Please let everyone know if this gets re-released.
Cheers!
I remember the Wongs. I saw them play live in Regina Sk. many years ago. I believe I even bought a t-shirt from the show. it was a Wongs t-shirt with a bunch of over weight baby’s on it.
Yes, you are probably talking about this image, that Chi designed: http://www.shrani.si/f/M/od/I1cHeIm/the-wongs.jpg
I still have my “Don’t Fuck With the Wongs” sticker with Barney Fife on it…
I would love to have a Wongs t-shirt. My friend once had the Don’t Fuck With The Wongs t-shirt, and the one previously mentioned with overweight babies was actually four sumo wrestlers and the T read “Four Fat Babies In a Van Tour”. Brilliant!
Thank so much!!!
I think I still have a live tape of The Wongs at Foufounes Électriques in Montreal. Bad recording, but nice souvenir. :)
Will trade my live tape for the full version of the EP. :)
I have a complete cassette of the The Wongs – anyone who can help me switch this to mp3 would be great. I’d post the results for a free download. I also have a rare(?) SNFU full non-stop recording of Last of the Big Time Suspenders and the smalls last show forever list on CJSR from 2001 and the debut of (un)sound. All of these are on cassettes.
Todd; where are you physically? Edmonton, or somewhere else? I might be able to put you in touch with someone who could help in Vancouver or Toronto, but maybe someone else could help if you’re elsewhere.
Xinit – I’m in Calgary, so getting to Edmonton is not a problem. Thanks for checking this post!
Hey Todd and xinit
Any chance of getting that Last of the Big Time Suspenders show uploaded here or anywhere for that matter? I’d love to hear it.