Cactus Vella Music

Hey everyone. last week I released a new 3-song EP titled “Old Wrecks Of Ninety Something”. The title refers to the fact that the songs were originally written back in the mid 1990s. The title is also a

friendly little nod the Johnny Cash’s “Wreck Of Old 97”. The first two tracks, “The Scream Is Louder Than The Crash” and “Evolution” were written while I was in Rejected in 1994. The closing track “Dry Spell” was written a couple of years later while I was in Bombshelter. Fast forward to sometime in 2020 while I was putting together my home studio, I started rearranging these songs acoustically, and over the next 2 years I recorded the songs. It was only recently that I finally gave them a proper mix and decided to release them. The three songs clock in at around 6 minutes in total. 

Back in January, on the 8-year anniversary of the passing of David Bowie, Public Mess released a cover of “Modern Love”. This recording is also the last song to feature drummer Andrew Heule with the band. For personal reasons Andrew has decided to step down from drumming duties. Andrew was a founding member of Public Mess and has appeared on the 2023 releases Too Many Ghosts EP, as well as the Dark Party EP. We’ll miss Andrew moving forward. He was an amzing drummer and just an all around great person to make music with. 

Hey everyone. A few months ago Public Mess returned to my home studio and we recorded a few more songs. Three of those songs became our new EP, “The Dark Party”. I’m really happy with how the recordings turned out. The band was really dialed in for this session.

“The Dark Party” was released on Friday December 8th, and you can listen to it on Spotify, Bandcamp, Youtube, or anywhere else you get your music.

Hey everyone. I have some big updates for you. That band that I started back in the winter, Cactus & Co. became Public Mess. This past spring we tested out my new studio that I built in my garage, and we recorded 5 tracks. Those 5 tracks became the “Too Many Ghosts” EP and are now available digitally on all streaming services, as well as a limited edition cassette tapes. Click here to check out the EP on bandcamp, here to listen to it on Spotify, or here for more options. 

Punktuation recently reviewed “Too Many Ghosts” and had this to say about it. “So punk isn’t all heavy guitars and frantic, breakneck vocals- there’s a place for acoustic folk-punk and Toronto’s newest group Public Mess are here to show us how it’s done. Their EP ‘Too Many Ghosts‘ is 18 minutes of anthemic and soulful punk rock with a great vocal turn by Cactus Vella. It’s the heart of punk rock with the musicianship of a trio of artists who have been around the Toronto music scene for decades and bring a whole lot of raw feeling to these five tracks.” –Molly Tie.

This week I was the guest on the APOLOGUE podcast hosted by my old friend Simon Head. We discuss Public Mess, the music scene in general, our basements, and a host of other topics. You can check out the episode on all places where you listen to podcast, or click here. 

The good people at Canadian Beats also gave us some good press in the form of a review. Check it out at this link. 

It’s been 15 years since Rubber Factory Records released the Leatherface Tribute compilation. And to celebrate this milestone, the compilation was officially released digitally (on YouTube). As well, 4 of us were asked to contribute new covers for a companion piece to the comp titled Local Chaps. You can check out my cover of “Springtime” on Bandcamp, or YouTube. I can remember 15 years ago being part of the production line of friends that assembled the gatefold double CD’s of this comp. I’m also proud to say I play on 3 different tracks on the Tribute. In addition to my solo track, I also appear with Sinkin’ Ships, and 2-Pump Louie. 

Last month I put together a new acoustic band, and this past weekend we played our first gig right here in Toronto at Rod, Gun & Barbers. The venue is a barbershop by day, and a bar by night. Very rad place to play and I highly recumbent checking it out when in Toronto. The new band is currently called Cactus & Co. but that could change. On bass is my long time friend Rob Fiasco. Rob and I actually went to high school together. On drums is one of the most creative musicians I know, Andrew Howlin Heule. There’s plans to record this spring. Potentially as easy as April or May.

Hey hey! Last week I officially release LET ME GO: AN ACOUSTIC-PUNK TRIBUTE TO RANCID. Featuring 20 Canadian bands and artists all doing acoustic covers of Rancid songs. The line up features The Matchup, Chuck Coles, Emily Bones, Cactus Vella, Ty Trumbull, Andrew Yeo, Stacey & Phil, Mudie, Cindy Caron, Calhoun, Hackles, Jon Creeden, Dragon City Radio, John Di Marco, Valerie Knox, Cud Eastbound, The Little Deaths, Boxcar Sh’onn, Mikey And His Uke, and Chris Veinot. The comp is a free download available on bandcamp at this link. The good people at That’s Good Enough For Me recently did a track-by-track review of the comp. It;s a long, but fun read, and can be found right here.

I was recently a guest on the Backstage with K3NN3DY show for a second time. Check it out here. As well, I was also a guest on Planet Lizzdom. We talked for an hour about all sorts of stuff. You can watch it at this link.

Hey everyone. I am stoked to let you all know that my new 2-song EP “Yonge” was released last week by Little Rocket Records. We had a great first week! Thank you to everyone who’s checked it out. It’s available on all of your streaming platforms like Spotify, and YouTube. It’s also available to download on iTunes and Bandcamp.

Equally exciting is the release of my new music video for the track “Ship Wreck”. The video was directed by Dominique Girouard (who also directed my video for “Touch The Ground”), and was shot in my tool shed. We shot during the peak of COVID-19 and locations weren’t an option. Neither was having a crew. Dom handled all of the production duties himself. The video was a lot of fun to film and I think it shows in the final edit. Our friends at Punknews.org premiered the video last Friday on their site.

I was recently interviewed on the Apologue Podcast hosted by my old friend Simon Head. It was a great interview as Simon and I have some history together. I was one of the first artists to record in Simon’s studio back in 1997. We talk about that and many other things. The podcast is available everywhere you would fins all of your favorites at. Or click here to check it out.