Artist: The Problem Children, Album: The Future Of The World Is Up To Us, Song: Red Dyed Hair?

"Well I'm walking down the street looking so sweet.  Everyone standing around staring at me.  Red dyed hair.  I said what the fucks a matter ain't you never seen red dyed hair."  The Problem Children were a punk band from Dunnville, Ontario.  They formed as teenage friends back in 1982 under the name, The Tits.  They were Jamie Problem, Barney Rebel and Gary Indiana.  Unfortunately, they had a difficult time getting promoters to book them gigs so they decided on a name change.  The band released their debut independent release in 1984 entitled, The Future Of The World Is Up To Us, on Irate Faction Records out of Toronto.  They were an extremely hard working band that toured the country numerous times and even played shows in the U.S. and Europe.  All on their own dime.  Their popularity was built in a true grassroots manner through constant touring, fan support and by handling every aspect of their music themselves.  The band did have a tumultuous career with member upheaval.  Jamie was the leader and the only constant member throughout those years.  He promoted and booked the band shows while also handling principle songwriting and recording duties.  And if that wasn't a big enough responsibility, he started his own label, Problem Children Wrekords, and began promoting shows as well as signing other bands from the Hamilton area like The Wet Spots (see blog 5/13/11).  His band is no longer playing today but Jamie is still very much involved in the promotion of punk music within the city of Hamilton.  He has an ongoing series of all ages shows called Sunday Slamfest which feature a number of local bands and they are run in conjunction with Hammer City Records (http://schizophrenicrex.com/).  You can read about Jamie and the band as well as follow his latest musings and work at http://problemchildrenmusic.tumblr.com/.  Red Dyed Hair? is the album opener from their debut release.  You can check it out on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN1-MNg6iJI).  The album, The Future Of The World Is Up To Us, is a very rare find today.  At the time of this blog, there were no copies available for sale online.  Jamie has mentioned that he does have copies available for sale upon request from his website of other releases from The Problem Children.  You also might have luck scouring the vinyl shops of Hamilton if you happen to live nearby.  That's how I was able to nab a copy.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!