In Celebration of Todd Serious, an Unsung Hero who Galvanized Western Canadian Punk

"We kinda built a community around our band," she said over a phone interview from Vancouver, "I was so shocked after Todd died about how much I took all the friendships for granted and how many amazing people are in my life." She said watching the tribute album come together was an honour, with contributing acts like Brutal Youth, Reds, Kleins96, ATD, Slefist, Doug Naugler, Propagandhi, and many more. The project was a collaborative effort between Harvest King Records, Rebel Time Records, and Not Yer Buddy Records. Listen to an exclusive stream of Rebels Sing: A Tribute to Todd Serious and The Rebel Spell below:

The future of TRS is uncertain. McGillicuddy said she, Elliot Fanglord (bass and vocals), and Travis de Chal (drums and vocals) have ideas, but it's difficult to move on." It's hard to put so much energy into something and just have it cut off in an instant." Noisey reached out to a handful of artists important to the Western Canadian punk scenes and most featured on the compilation to talk about Todd Serious. They said he was an advocate for marginalized voices in his music and life; he obsessed over topics like environmentalism, homelessness, drug addiction, and affordable housing. As an example of his determination to live his words, many artists cited Todd's project to convert the band's tour bus to biodiesel, reducing their carbon footprint.

"Todd had a really dry sense of humour. A lot people found him intimidating; he had his moments when he could let his guard down and could be pretty funny. [One time] we finally made it to Halifax for the first time on the last tour, and [I] was going through a really dark depression at the time. I just wanted to sit on the bus, but Todd was like, 'No, we have to get out, we have to pose for this photo.' Because we were right at the Atlantic Ocean so he had this thing he was going to do where he was going to drive the bus down into the Atlantic Ocean.

There was a boat ramp and he was going to drive it in. He wanted the tires [of the famous veggie oil bus] to touch the water. He hauled me out and forced me to pose for this photo. At the time, I was breaking inside. It was raining and gross out. Now when I look back at that picture, holy shit, I can't believe how much I took for granted. It's so bittersweet. If I could redo that trip and realize how good I had it, you know?"

"Propagandhi toured across western Canada twice with TRS. We got along great and really respected their spirit and dedication. We liked that they were serious about their politics—that they did their best to live up to their ideals and we genuinely enjoyed their music. The lyrics of their songs are so well thought out and heartfelt and the delivery is presented in a unique and inimitable fashion. They were a really important part of the Vancouver and Canadian punk scene.

Todd was a genuinely good, straight up and inspiring guy; we were devastated to hear of his loss. We hope we did him some justice with the cover tune, none of us could sing as high as him so we sought out some help from our friends War On Women for back up vocals. All in all It was impossible to recreate the spirit and energy of Rebel Spell's version of the tune but we certainly tried our best. We hope this [composition] makes some coin for the beneficiaries!"

"Todd got behind the people he believed in and put his money where his mouth was. He literally offered to buy me a new guitar on tour once because I'd snapped the headstock off of mine. I'd only known him for about a week or so at the time. We picked the song "Bring Em In" because Propagandhi had already taken 'I Am A Rifle,' but also because it meant a lot to me personally. The final time I saw Todd we were playing a string of shows with TRS and he invited me to get up and sing "Bring Em In" with them on the final show. He said that he thought it suited my style of singing and he thought I could really rip it up. So I sat on their tour bus and wrote the words out on in sharpie on a poster for the show that day and he lent me his headphones so I could listen to it on my phone and try to learn all those words—seriously, I'm wordy with my lyrics but he's worse than I am—and then I got to sing it with them that night. I still have the poster with the words on the back of it from that day.  I also forgot to give him his headphones back. I look at them sometimes, and it's like a little monument to our last time together."

"I think that Todd's inclusivity made the punk scene more accessible to people who may not have naturally gravitated toward it, myself included. His songwriting slays me. Todd literally changed the way I write music and how I choose to use my voice. This collaboration [album] felt like the definition of bittersweet. Here we were, some of Todd's closest friends and favourite musicians making this beautiful song I know he'd be proud of but it shouldn't have been about him. He was never going to hear it or see us all playing it together. 'As the moon rises and the lights fade' was a line taken from that one time Todd and I tried to write a song together. In the end, I guess we kind of did. [Todd wanted us to] strive for something better in this mess of a world and never stop telling stories."

"The one thing I can say about Todd is he was similar to Tim Yohannan, who started Maximum Rocknroll. You may not agree with everything he said politically, but you had to admire that he would stick to his guns. He would keep working towards making some sort of change. It's really hard to find people who are that serious and will stick to what they believe in. Times change. A lot of artists might bend with the wind—not Todd. I was really amazed."

"Todd really lived by example. Especially in the later years. It's important to have those people who live true to their message. It's very easy to be angry and upset about the world and write songs about them. But it's also very easy to get comfortable in the world.

I saw an interview with Todd for a video project I'm working on, and one of the quotes from him when the interviewer asked what his final message was, he said, "Just try." It's so simple but so perfect. We know we're not going to change the world necessarily. We're the first generation that understands we're not going to change the world. But his message saying just try can make the world a bit better."

Devin Pacholik is a Canadian writer. Follow him on Twitter.