outh Youth Youth were a seminal Toronto hardcore band. The originators. The ones responsible for making "Good Toronto" the haven of the most radical punk rock in the eighties. And yet, they are also the most unjustly overlooked group in the Canadian scene, revered only by the most refined connoisseurs of fast, raw, and intense sounds. Their brief history goes as follows: Rob Mallion, guitarist and the soul of the project, recruited an initial lineup of YYY in late 1980 (Rob Demers, Gerry Sewell, and Pil Product), and he poorly recorded with them some tracks and played a couple of low-budget gigs. Soon after, Brian McCullough and Paul Bishop, who had shared the stage with Mallion's band at one of those early performances, replaced the drummer and bassist. Brian Taylor completed the new lineup, agreeing to sing Rob's songs after they became friends at the bus stop. Just like that. Their first release was a demo cassette with nine songs that came out in June of '82, four of which would be included in the compilation T.O.H.C. '83. By then they were already a respected group playing in venues all over Canada and even England, supporting DC bands visiting the city of the iconic tower, and booking their own gigs. With the money they raised, in August 1983 they entered Comfort Sound studio with engineer Blair Packham, where they recorded SIN, the 12" EP that would eventually be released by Fringe Records, the label of D.O.A. and Dead Kennedys in Canada. After a few more gigs, some footage in the film Not Dead Yet, and a new version of "Domination" for the BYO compilation Something to Believe In, Rob Mallion's band dissolved as naturally as it had formed, leaving behind a handful of superlative songs and continuing to champion the scene from other fronts. To do justice to this pioneering Toronto band, here's the compilation of the 7 original songs from SIN (side A) + 9 of their demos recorded at Accusonic between June 1982 and March 1983 + their final version of "Domination," recorded in November 1983 (side B).