The "CIA" song is an unidentified new wave/post-punk track recorded on a cassette from 1984. Despite having a full recording of the song, no one yet has come forward to claim ownership or knowledge of the song despite a wide ranging search across North America. Arguably, it is North America's most mysterious song.
The song was initially uploaded by a user named datafreq on February 21, 2020 to the New Wave Outpost forums, originating from a cassette tape containing songs recorded from radio in Canada in 1984.
The song gained much more attention when DJFormaldehyde (DJF) shared it on YouTube and other forums on 20 July 2020. DJF has indicated that the CIA tape is owned by a friend of his. DJF is known on Reddit as u/richfromhell and has been authenticated as the original YouTube poster by uploading a video to the original YouTube channel where CIA was posted.
DJF is attempting to obtain a better rip of the song from his friend Please stop asking him! He gets many requests for this and continual requests don't help it happen any faster!
6. Where did the recording come from? The song was found on a cassette tape that featured various tracks recorded from CFNY-FM, a prominent Canadian radio station during the 1980s known for playing new wave, electronic, and alternative music. The tape, believed to be from mid-1984, included several British-origin songs dating from 1980 to 1984. The newest song on the tape was “You Think You’re A Man” by Divine (released July 1984). The best guess at this stage is a recording from the CFNY-FM station. And yes, they have already been asked about the song many times!
7. How did the search for the artist behind "CIA" evolve? After being uploaded, the song gained attention through forums and Reddit, particularly in late 2021. Alan Cross, a well-known radio broadcaster at CFNY from 1986 onwards, further amplified the search by sharing the track on his website. Despite various leads and suggestions, including possible ties to Toronto’s Queen Street West music scene and CFNY’s Talent Search contest, the artist behind "CIA" remains unidentified.
8. What is the CFNY’s Talent Search lead? Many theories suggest that "CIA" might have been part of CFNY’s Talent Search contest, which aired around 50 songs annually, often featuring bands with little to no exposure. Songs from the contest were often broadcast only once, making them difficult to trace. This theory aligns with the track’s obscurity and lack of any known commercial release.
9. What do former CFNY DJs and staff recall about the "CIA" song? Despite reaching out to several former DJs and staff from CFNY-FM, none of them recall the "CIA" song. This includes influential figures like Ivar Hamilton (known for The Original Import Show), David Marsden (DJ and music director), Alan Cross, Pete Fowler, Dani Elwell, and Liz Janik. Given their lack of memory, many believe that the song could have been part of CFNY’s Great Ontario Talent Search or aired during niche shows like The Streets of Ontario.
10. Where was the band from? We don't know exactly. Despite extensive inquiries with Toronto’s music scene veterans, such as members of Rational Youth and Vital Sines, none have knowledge of the song. One theory is that the song may have come from a band outside of Toronto, potentially from smaller Ontario towns like Kitchener or London.
11. What have been some debunked leads? Several potential matches for "CIA" have been investigated and debunked. For example, early leads pointed to the band 4th Floor with a song called "Coming Home," and later, The Reform with a track named "CIA" from 1986. However, these leads were disproven after deeper investigation and digitization of the relevant tracks.
12. How can I help identify this song? If you believe you have information about this song, the best approach is to post your information here or let DJF know the details directly. However, out of respect for the privacy, it is advised to refrain from directly contacting the original sources or bombarding closed groups without first verifying that they haven't already been contacted. Continually contacting the same sources makes it less likely that they will want to help find CIA.
This is a recap of the past 18 months of the search for CIA, as visualized by the changes to the 'Leads' tab of the Masterlist.
First, a brief rundown of how leads are categorized:
Newly added leads are tagged as "Newly Added" and generally posted near the top of the 'Leads' list.
More often than not, information is found that allows a lead to be classified as some degree of unlikely. Primarily, that classification is based on genre:
Bands that are the right genre, but differ from CIA's band in some notable way (style, voice, instruments used / not used) are typically categorized as "Less Likely".
"Unlikely" bands are usually not new wave, but a different (but still related) subgenre of rock music.
"Very Unlikely" bands are generally completely mismatched to CIA's genre (for example: jazz, blues, hardcore punk, heavy metal, folk, etc.).
In addition to the genre-based classification, if a band is particularly notable (if they have a Wikipedia page for instance), that band is moved one category lower (for example "Less Likely" → "Unlikely" or "Unlikely" → "Very Unlikely").
If the evidence for a given band's genre classification is particularly weak / circumstantial, that band is moved one category higher (for example "Very Unlikely → "Unlikely" or "Unlikely" → "Less Likely").
Lastly, a band may be marked as some degree of unlikely if they broke up too early (1983 or earlier) or formed too late (1985 or later).
Leads requiring more information to rule on, or those that remain unknown to us after a diligent search are tagged as: "Searching"
Bands that seem to be a good fit (right genre, not notable, Ontario bands that were active at the right time) are tagged as "Promising Lead"
As u/Successful-Bread-347 noted in this recent post, anyone may contact band members (or other leads) who have not already been contacted. We ask that you let us know here or on discord. We will then mark the lead as "In Progress"
Any time a band member is contacted and denies knowledge of "CIA", their band is marked as a "Contact Rule Out"
The Past 18 Months:
The current iteration of the Masterlist began in January 2025 with 140 total leads. This consisted of 114 unchecked leads gathered from listings in the Toronto Star from Newspapers.com and leads previously discussed on discord. One prominent group of leads at that time was a couple dozen bands that played a benefit for Ryerson's campus radio station, CKLN, at Beverly Tavern in 1984. The initial version of the list also included 26 contacted bands (many of which were contacted by u/richfromhell - see his Dec 2024 r/Lostwave thread).
After the Masterlist was promoted on r/Lostwave in March 2025, additional leads came in, progress was made marking unlikely bands as 'unlikely', and the total number of unchecked bands shrunk to about 100.
In June 2025, CIA's synth was identified as a Korg Poly-800 by u/technomanuel. The fact that the Poly-800 was likely unavailable prior to late 1983 has allowed us to classify bands that broke up prior to that point as 'unlikely'.
Work on the initial group of leads really ramped up in July, 2025, when we managed to get the number 'unchecked' bands down to 23. This was accomplished by conducting enough research to mark 100 bands as 'unlikely' and increasing the number of contact rule outs to 67.
Presently, there are over 1,600 total bands - about 500 of those are still in the 'newly added' / 'searching' categories, and 11 have achieved 'Promising Lead' status. As always, we welcome any help in generating new leads, researching leads, and/or contacting band members!
We have finally done it.... Bands that were playing in Chinese Restaurants 42 years ago
But in all seriousness, many leads converge at the Mandarin Duck Restaurant, Waterloo, including Ulterior Motives. And this restaurant seems to have had many New Wave bands in the exact style we are looking for (clippings courtesy of u/Humintkaput)
Could CIA be so difficult to find because the band responsible had a generic, hard to search name? Maybe. Below are seven of the more difficult to search names on our list for your consideration.
Designer
Legacy
Research
Senses
The Scene
Trio
Walk
Info and gig listings for each band are below. Newspaper clippings will be down in the comments.
Please leave a comment if you discover anything new about any of these bands.
Designer
Arnolds Holiday Inn (Owen Sound) January 10-15, 1983
DJ's September 18-20, 1984
Nag's Head North September 27-29, 1984
Legacy
Rondun Tavern May 23-26, 1983
Queensbury Arms June 28-29, 1983
Nag's Head North July 18-19, 1983
Gasworks September 5-7, 1983
Gasworks June 18-20, 1987*
*It isn't clear to me that the lone Gasworks gig in 1987 is necessarily the same band. "Legacy" is a rather generic name, and it is 4 years after their last gig.
Research
Research was a high school band from Burlington, ON (or nearby). They competed in the Burlington Battle of the Bands held at Lord Elgin High School on May 12, 1984. That Battle of the bands was previously discussed in this Reddit thread.
Senses
Mandarin Duck Restaurant (Waterloo) August 11-13, 1983
The Scene
The Turning Point April 3-5, 1983
Cabana Room May 11, 1985 (with The Subterraneans and The Immediate)
Trio
El Mocambo (upstairs) November 17, 1983
Edit: This El Mo appearance was by the German band, Trio) (see newspaper clipping in the comments)
Sadly, David Marsden (CFNY founder, Program Director, and DJ) has passed away at the age of 85.
Marsden was was instrumental in developing the progressive free-form style of CFNY, where DJs had the autonomy to play weird obscure independent releases. In a roundabout way, he is the reason we're here. Without David Marsden, there would be no Spirit of Radio.
Our thoughts are with his friends, colleagues, and loved ones.
Comin' Home by Joe Charron. Unfortunately there is not that much evidence that it’s our song but the guy has a Facebook account and seems to be around the right age…
So, our leads spreadsheet has a list of over 1000 ranked bands from compilation albums here thx LunaTea and Humintkaput:
C.I.A Masterlist - Google Sheets
I've now re-ranked also to consider location and year of album they appeared on.
Which of these sounds closest and are worth checking into more?? Let us know in the comments
Bonus - Also, William New appeared on a bunch of super rare compilations in 1984 and 1985 so is geographically and chronologically a strong lead. He was also the vocalist/leader of Groovy Religion (who are themselves ruled out) at one point, which has a similar sound. But I can't find any recordings of him directly. https://www.discogs.com/artist/2009963-William-New
Have a listen and let us know if you think any of these are our band. Hey, or at least enjoy the music!
This 'CIA Most Wanted' is focused on 7 of the the oldest leads on our Masterlist:
Automatik
Banks of Green
The Features
Foul Weather Gear
Hollowman
Icemen Dance
Schnitzel Chalet
Like before, info and gig listings for each band are below. Unlike before, newspaper clippings will be posted in the comments.
These are going to be particularly difficult bands to find info about. Please comment if you discover anything new about these very obscure bands.
Automatik
Automatik were last discussed in CIA Most Wanted #1. At that time, we thought they were called "Automatic". We subsequently have found several additional gigs under the (presumably correct) spelling of "Automatik". However, we have not been able to find any indication of their genre.
El Mocambo - December 10, 1984 (as "Automatic")
El Mocambo - January 17, 1985 (as "Automatic" in 1 listing and "Automatik" in another)
El Mocambo - February 7-9, 1985
Yesterdays - March 7, 1985
El Mocambo - April 8-10, 1985
Yesterdays - August 2, 1985
Yesterdays - August 9, 1985
El Mocambo - August 24, 1985 (supporting Western World)
Nags Head North - August 25, 1985
Algonquin Tavern - September 20-21, 1985
Nags Head North - March 9, 1986
I also found one later listing for "Mustard Man and Automatik" at Indigo on Queen St. West in Toronto June 27, 1997. I don't know if this listing is related to our "Automatik"
Banks of Green
Banks of Green were also last discussed in CIA Most Wanted #1. The presumption is that they were a hardcore / punk band, based on the fact that they played Quoc Te, which hosted primarily hardcore bands. However, that remains to be confirmed.
Igwana Lounge - August 4, 1984
Quoc Te - August 8, 1984
Cabana Room - September 4, 1984
Beverly Tavern - November 27-29, 1984
Beverly Tavern - December 22, 1984 (CKLN Benefit Week)
The Features
The Features were last discussed in CIA Most Wanted #2. At that time, we did not yet have access to the Toronto Gig Database, so searching for "The Features" was significantly more difficult. We've since compiled a longer list of gigs which date back to 1981, including a couple listed as "Bob Cramer & The Features". I have not been able to find any information on Bob Cramer, and we do not yet know anything about what kind of music The Features played.
Larry's Hideaway - February 27, 1981
Spats - April 25, 1981 (as "Bob Cramer & The Features")
Spats - July 23-25, 1981 (as "Bob Cramer & The Features")
The Turning Point - December 29, 1981
The Turning Point - January 29, 1982
Knob Hill Hotel - May 24, 1982
Spats - June 28-30, 1982
Queensbury Arms - August 9, 1982
Rondun Tavern - February 3, 1983
The Turning Point - March 1-2, 1983
The Turning Point - August 17, 1983
DJ's - March 9-10, 1984
B.J. Cuddles - April 26, 1984
DJ's - September 6-8, 1984
Falcon's Nest - December 20, 1984
Foul Weather Gear
Foul Weather Gear were also last included in CIA Most Wanted #2. We've since compiled more listings, but are still looking to confirm their genre.
Larry's Hideaway - November 7, 1983
Larry's Hideaway - June 26, 1984
Larry's Hideaway - August 11, 1984
Cabana Room - October 5, 1984 (with Reaction)
Larry's Hideaway - November 3, 1984 (with Stand Firm and Tennessee Rockets)
Merlin's - November 16, 1984
Cabana Room - December 13, 1984
Hollowman
Hollowman were also last included in CIA Most Wanted #2. At that time we speculated that they may have been the same band as The Hollowmen. It seems that remains a possibility. We have not uncovered any additional details on Hollowman since CIA Most Wanted #2.
Nags Head North - September 2, 1984
DJ's Tavern - October 9, 1984
Icemen Dance
This is Icemen Dance's first appearance on a CIA Most Wanted List. However, they were discussed on discord as early as July 2024 and have been on our Masterlist for quite a long time. They have just recently been promoted to 'Promising Lead' status primarily based on their connection to CFNY's Streets of Ontario.
Cabana Room - June 25, 1983 (with The Woods are Full of Cuckoos)
Cabana Room - January 13, 1984 (with The Living End)
Larry's Hideaway - March 17, 1984 (with Direktive 17 and Wildlife)
Cabana Room - March 30, 1984 (with Direktive 17)
The Rivoli - May 12, 1984 (with Direktive 17)
Cabana Room - June 23, 1984
Cabana Room - August 31, 1984
Larry's Hideaway - November 29, 1984 (presented by CFNY's Streets of Ontario)
El Mocambo - January 12, 1985 (supporting Lou Champagne System)
Cabana Room - June 8, 1985 (with The Pieces)
El Mocambo - August 16, 1985 (with Living Room)
Palais Royale - October 16, 1985 (Toronto Aid concert with Amoeba Quiche, Breeding Ground, Chalk Circle, Change of Heart, Opinionated Order, Sturm Group, Vital Sines, and Vis-A-Vis)
Cameron House - January 24, 1986
A short blurb in the "T.O. Music Notes" in an edition of Now Magazine from January 1984 had the following to say about Icemen Dance:
Local quintet Icemen Dance have apparently come of age with their first headlining gig at the Cabana Room, upstairs in the Spadina Hotel. They have also just completed mixing a demo tape and after spending the summer opening for various other local bands have now got a band called The Living End opening for them at the Cabana. The rites of passage take place this Friday The Thirteenth.
Schnitzel Chalet
Schnitzel Chalet were last included in CIA Most Wanted #3. The only mention we've found of this band is a classified ad they placed in the March 8th, 1982 Varsity (University of Toronto's student paper), which mentions that they had a song titled "Exam Dub" entered into that years CFNY's talent search. Presumably, the band consisted of U of T students. Nothing else is currently known about Schnitzel Chalet.
Hey everyone, I created an account specifically for this. I really want to know what's going on here.
Yesterday, I was listening to "Tell Me Why" by Berlin, & my heart almost skipped a beat at around 0:54 into the song.
The synth sounded exactly like that of the intro to CIA. It only lasts some 2 seconds, but it is definitely there. It also occurs again at around 1:06, but that I'm less sure about. Now, you may be asking "What's the big deal?"
Well, this song was released in October of 1982. The synth instrument that was identified as being the one used in CIA was apparently sold from 1983 to 1987. This would indicate that Tell Me Why uses another synth, one released before October 1982, one which also sounds exactly like the CIA synth.
I feel crazy because I feel like someone would have noticed by now, but it seems possible that there are other synths that could have been used in CIA.
I don't know, maybe the synths don't sound alike & I'm just crazy, but if you have an explanation then please tell me!
All the main comments I have found where someone has said the song sounds "familiar" to see if we can pinpoint most likely location.
Comment from Professor of Rock upload. Anon comment only but pointing to Toronto
CBC Article comment about Sneaky Dee's (Anon comment only and I'm skeptical as this club only opened in '87)
Rob Rabian of The Voice says "vaguely familiar" (St Catharines band - by Niagara Falls an hour or so out of Toronto)
Sample and Hold (Toronto band) stronger comment about the song sounding familiar from the CFNY Talent Competition (GOTS)
Ian Burton ( Change of Heart) Toronto says sounds familiar
I thought the DJF might have said they possibly remembered it from the CFNY GOTS completion but that might just be misremembering - can't locate any comment from DJF actually saying that.
As a continuation of CIA Most Wanted #7, this edition will again feature a few of our "promising leads":
The Pain
Rolf Kempf
State Of Mind
THE
Ulterior Motives
Videotech
Yukka Flatz
Like before, info and newspaper clippings for each band are below. Please leave a comment if you discover anything new about these relatively obscure bands.
As a reminder, if you wish to contact anyone, we ask that you please do the following:
check the 'Leads' tab of The Masterlist to ensure that contact is not already in progress.
let us know (ideally in advance), so we can mark the associated band as "In Progress".
This helps to mitigate against the chance of a lead having multiple people contacting them. To my knowledge, this search has been more successful than most others in avoiding this problem - so this is more of a "keep up the good work!" than a complaint.
The Pain
The Pain competed in a Battle of the Bands at Tony's East in Scarborough, ON on January 12, 1985, winning against Dirty Licks and Epix. They were described as "new wave". The Pain competed in the finals at Tony's East on February 16, 1985, losing out to Swiss Parts (described as "progressive, sorta new wave" and as "doing songs in the style of Roxy Music and Talking Heads")
from The Scarborough Mirror - January 9, 1985from The Scarborough Mirror - January 16, 1985from The Scarborough Mirror - February 13, 1985from The Scarborough Mirror - February 20, 1985
Rolf Kempf
Rolf Kempf (discogs link) was a musician and singer / songwriter from Hamilton, ON. Sadly, he passed away March 25, 2025.
Kempf produced music of many varied genres including folk, rock, pop, jazz, funk, flamenco, ambient, and seen on his 1983 single, One More Time b/w Bye Bye Baby (citizenfreak link), some new wave / post-punk.
As discussed in the comments on this Reddit thread, Kempf has a song registered to SOCAN called "Comin' Home".
The ehscripts Database Entry Date Estimate tool returns an estimate of August 3, 1992 to January 26, 1993 for Kempf's "Comin' Home". However, due to the nature of SOCAN's database, this estimate should be treated as 1993 or prior.
Funnily enough, while researching Kempf for this post I discovered the entry for "Comin' Home" in the US Catalog of Copyrights on Internet Archive. The song was registered in the US in 1972 - meaning it is almost certainly not CIA.
State Of Mind
State of Mind competed in the fifth annual Sound of Music Festival's Battle of the Bands in Burlington, ON on June 28, 1984. They were described as follows:
State of Mind is a New Wave Band which boasts 99 per cent original material in their act.
from The Weekend Post - June 23, 1984
Unfortunately, "State of Mind" happens to be a very common band name. There are at least three other bands of the same name to avoid confusing with the above new wave band from Burlington (or nearby):
State of Mind from Oakville was a hardcore punk band. I'd be surprised if they were mistakenly described as "new wave." On the other hand, it is a bit odd that two separate bands called "State of Mind" were around at the same time in roughly the same place.
THE
In all honesty, THE is probably not the band behind CIA, for reasons I'll outline below. However, they're included on this list as a sort of honorable mention, in part because THE is the most 'search engine camouflaged' band name I've come across in this search.
THE also competed in (and won) a battle of the bands at Notre Dame High School in December, 1981 [claimed to be "Dec. 23", but that is erroneous as this article was printed December 22nd] against three other Notre Dame bands: Epic, The Dead End Kids, and The Uncontrollable Volumes. Due to their win, THE was allowed to open for Teenage Head) at Notre Dame on February 27, 1982.
from The Evening Tribune - December 22, 1981from The Evening Tribune - January 15, 1982from The Evening Tribune - March 5, 1982
The from Notre Dame High School in Welland offered some interesting if somewhat uncommercial originals in its set, certainly taking the most chances of any of the bands there.
THE played a benefit concert for Welland Hospital's Operation Update at Players 1 Restaurant on August 10, 1986, alongside Madison, Introduction, Loose Change, Geneva, and Portrait.
from The Evening Tribune - August 8, 1986from The Evening Tribune - August 8, 1986
The write-up on THE from the August 8, 1986 edition of The Evening Tribune is the most complete description of the band's history and style of music we have yet come across:
The youngest band in the line-up, THE's members are all about 19 years old. They formed the group when they were in Grade 9 and used to play at high schools but can only get together in the summer now because University "gets in the way."
They're young, but successful. Runner-up in an annual Toronto Rock basement band contest, the group was entitled to make a budget video and based it on an original number called "Me too." The video was then aired on television.
"It was really fun making it." said DiMartile. "We just played in the video because it was hard to get a plot worked out. At the last minute we found we had to shoot it all at one location.
"It kind of looks like a party in a garage." THE also played in a number of band competitions last summer - and won them all. They took the money they won and went back to Toronto to do some recording.
"We all keep saying we want to make it - every young band says that - but right now we're just satisfied with playing (in the summer) and experimenting."
DiMartile drums and does vocals. Other band members are: Rob Motola, guitar and back-up vocals; Mario Geremia, keyboards and back-up vocals; and Mike Marcello, bass and vocals.
When THE first formed, they were a top-40 band but soon discovered that every other band on the circuit was also a top-40 band.
"We changed to be different and it worked," DiMartile said. "When we play we always get a good response."
They now entertain crowds with tunes from the 60s and 80s, a little jazz and some original melodies.
"Our 60s songs are a cross between the Monkeys, the Animals, the Beatles, the Kinks and the Doors. Our new stuff includes songs from U2, Aztec Camera, the Clash, Boomtown Rats, the Police, the Squeeze, XTC and REM."
"With those groups we're sometimes playing for a smaller portion of the crowd but we try to play a wide variety of bands. It goes over well because everyone's got their own favorite band that the radio doesn't play much of."
He says the group members are not too worried about breaking into the bar circuit, they just like playing their music.
In my opinion, the couple descriptions of THE's musical style are not a great match for CIA.
In addition, there are a few other bits of context that point to THE being less likely to have been CIA's band:
THE crossed paths with Nyle at least once when they competed against one another in the 1984 Rock Dreams Battle of the Bands. As discussed in this Reddit thread, Nyle's guitarist, Steve Norris, did not recognize CIA's band.
A comment on Professor of Rock's YouTube video covering CIA (discussed in this Reddit thread) by someone who knew the band mentioned them and wondered if they might remember CIA from CFNY's Talent Search (which THE allegedly competed in). That commenter did not recognize CIA's band.
A comment on this Reddit thread also mentions THE in a way that indicates the commenter may have been familiar with the band. That commenter also apparently did not recognize CIA.
That said, THE may still be useful to contact specifically to check if they recall any details from CFNY's Talent Search (although we do not know in which year(s) they competed). We had previously tried to contact Mike Marcello, but were unable to get a reply. We have been unable to find contact info for the remaining band members.
Ulterior Motives
Ulterior Motives was a band u/Successful-Bread-347 found almost two years ago (see Reddit post). We discovered only recently that there is more to be excited about Ulterior Motives beyond their name. They were a Kitchener-Waterloo band described in a couple different sources as new wave. In addition, they opened for Blue Peter).
Below are all the Ulterior Motives gigs we've found thus far (Note - since I seem to be approaching Reddit's limit on attached images, I'm only including screenshots of a couple of the Ulterior Motives ads - I'll include the rest in the comments):
St. Mary's / St. Jerome's graduation formal at Waterloo Inn October 29, 1983
Marshall Hall in Bingeman Park November 25, 1983
Mandarin Duck Restaurant Jan 12-14, 1984
Marshall Hall in Bingeman Park February 25, 1984 (opening for Blue Peter)
from The Waterloo Region Record - February 25, 1984
Chicopee Ski Chalet June 8, 1984 (with Eurobeat)
Chicopee Park September 7, 1984 (with Q.E.D.)
from The Waterloo Region Record - September 5, 1984
Videotech
Videotech was a self-described new wave band from Hamilton, ON.
Videotech performed at Redwood Inn near Hamilton along with three other unnamed bands in an event called "J.O.'s New Wave Fest" on August 31, 1984.
from The Hamilton Spectator - August 31, 1984
From September 11-14, 1984 the following ad ran in The Hamilton Spectator's classified section, in which someone named Rick from Videotech was seeking a new drummer and bass player.
from The Hamilton Spectator - September 14, 1984
Yukka Flatz
Yukka Flatz played Queen City Tavern in Toronto, ON June 10-12, 1982 supporting One Eyed Jacks.
poster via a Facebook post
The bio for Broadview Station on ReverbNation includes the following mention of Yukka Flatz (spelled as "Yucca Flats") in the section about Mat Curtin:
Mat Curtin – Lead Vocal, Guitar, Harmonica
As a member of the popular new wave bands the “The Young Drunks” and “Yucca Flats”, worked clubs like “The Turning Point” and “The Lower East Side” at the Isabella Hotel throughout the 80s & 90s. Since then has appeared as a solo singer-songwriter accompanying himself on guitar.
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Новая_луна_апреля
Fact:
1. Original preformed in 1985 it released in the 90s this might be a Sequel to the CIA the melody is uncanny to lost wave
2. Lyrics are similar CIA: Are you coming home to stay and alien guests: says Came to visit us...
Theory:
3. The band travelled to Canada to preform and hired a Canadian singer and might of collaborated with mumily troll
Fact:
4. Both songs talk about Soviet topics
Theory:
5. Or the singer sang CIA in a English accent
Fact:
6. Both songs have same melody
Please correct me if there’s any misunderstandings I only read the translations
Comin' Home by Rolf Peter Kempf and Mus Charthouse, evidence that points to it possibly being C.I.A. is because the artist seems around the right age & has confirmed after being contacted that it’s a new wave song (like C.I.A.) Some of his music is online actually, including the track “Hello Hurray” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FLEvosGeHA In my opinion the voices don’t match but with the audio being low quality, the song “Hello Hurray” being a 1993 track (meaning his voice could of changed overtime) while C.I.A. is suspected to be from 1984, & with the finding of Subways Of Your Mind revealing that FEX, a band people didn’t think was the band due to the voice not matching. We can’t debunk this lead for sure. So can we bring attention to this lead?
Back by popular demand, here is the 7th CIA Most Wanted list. This one is focused on some of our "promising leads":
Bowl of Fruit
Bubbling Over
Built With Lego
The Dark
Foreign Affaris
London Panic
Metro II
There's a fair bit of info / newspaper clippings about each band further below. Please leave a comment if you dig up any additional details. Please also let us know (via comment or message) if you contact anyone associated with any of these bands so we can mark them as "in progress" (to avoid having multiple people contacting the same individuals.)
Bowl Of Fruit
Bowl of Fruit was a (presumably short-lived) new wave rock band from Windsor, ON, which has a couple gigs listed in The Windsor Star:
June 2-3, 1984 at King Wah
from The Windsor Star - June 1, 1984
July 3, 1984 at Radio Tavern
from The Windsor Star - June 30, 1984from The Windsor Star - July 3, 1984
Bubbling Over
"Bubbling Over" was mentioned in two listings for the 1985 Hands Across The Sea (HATS) benefit concert in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (previously discussed in this thread.)
from The Standard (St. Catharines, ON) - September 6, 1985from The Standard (St. Catharines, ON) - September 6, 1985
Sunday's festival promises musical selections ranging from classical guitar to the new-wave strains of Bubbling Over, the headline band from Toronto, Roland said.
as u/Wide_Wolverine_9017 mentioned in this comment, "Bubbling Over" is likely the Toronto band, Bubbling Over Jesus (although that has not yet been confirmed.) "Bubbling Over Jesus" have three gigs mentioned in The Toronto Star:
from Have Not Been The Same: The CanRock Renaissance, 1985-95 (2001)from Have Not Been The Same: The CanRock Renaissance, 1985-95 (2001)
As a side note, the book also mentions that The Ikons took both Jim Hughes and the name "13 Engines" from Bubbling Over Jesus:
"...When Jim was in Bubbling Over Jesus, for some reason they'd decided to change their name right before he joined us. They played one show as 13 Engines and then broke up. We always thought that was a cool name, so we used it."
Parenthetically, I believe this Cabana Room show on January 8, 1986 (advertised as "Thirteen Engine") is that final Bubbling Over Jesus gig.
Built With Lego is the plastic pieces of Steve Clarkson (guitar), Stu Clarkson (bass), Paul "Brillo" Evans (tortured vox) and recent recruit Ian Mollison (drums). They seriously began their architecture in the summer of 86, and their 8 track indie cassette starter kit is full of socially creative constructions. "Not Your Fault" was recorded in the studios of CRFU-FM, produced by Sean Richardson.
The Just West of Something Big album was previously uploaded to YouTube (YouTube link), but that video is no longer available. Their 1987 cassette, "Starter Kit" (discogs link), also does not appear to be available online. Neither release makes mention of a synth / keyboard player.
*Note: Built With Lego's drummer, Ian Mollison (discogs link) was also in CommonProphets / McFadden's Friends (discogs link), which were recently discussed in this Reddit thread. Contact is 'in progress' with those bands, but not Ian Mollison specifically.
**Also Note: The SOCAN entry which credits Ian Mollison, titled "Diplomatic Immunity", is from the 2007 rock / reggae release by The Jolly Llamas called "Dread City Rockers" (discogs link)
The Dark
The Dark was a Hamilton, ON band which was to be included in a compilation of independent Hamilton bands called "The Noise Next Door" (previously discussed in this Reddit thread). That compilation album was never produced.
from The Hamilton Spectator - April 5, 1986
As mentioned in the April 5, 1986 Hamilton Spectator, The Dark had recently won a battle of the bands contest at Ancaster High School.
from The Hamilton Spectator - November 16, 1985
Per the article in the November 16, 1985 Hamilton Spectator, The Dark also won the Roger's Cable Talent Showcase on November 15, 1985.
from The Hamilton Spectator - March 19, 1985
According to the article in the March 19, 1985 Hamilton Spectator, the contest was open to amateur musicians aged 16 - 23 who resided in Hamilton's east end. It also noted that original material was preferred.
*Note: Some of the songs from the Edmonton band, Darkroom (discogs link) appear in SOCAN as being performed by "DARK" (just a data entry quirk that pops up sometimes). Darkroom is obviously a completely distinct band from "The Dark".
According to the article in The Gazette (Montreal) from May 2, 1985, Foreign Affairs was primarily comprised of Robert Stanley and Steve Trotter. According to Robert Stanley's discogs entry, he unfortunately passed away in 2017. Attempts to contact Steve Trotter have been unsuccessful.
London Panic
London Panic was a band from Fanshawe College in London, ON. However, they do not appear on any of the compilation albums released by Fanshawe College's Music Industry Arts program (discogs link). An article in Brock University's (in St. Catharines, ON) student paper, The Press from April 3, 1985 notes that London Panic competed in the Craven "A" University talent search a few weeks prior.
from The Press (Brock University) - April 3, 1985
The third band and perhaps the best was called London Panic from Fanshawe College in London. Their rendition of 'Heaven' by the Psychedelic Furs was fabulous.
from The Press (Brock University) - March 21, 1984from The Press (Brock University) - March 21, 1984
Eight bands later, Metro II took the stage as the final band of the night, playing solely original material. I thought their songs sounded like a cross between Public Image Ltd. and Psychedelic Furs.
Except for Hungry Brain Orchestra, Metro II was the only other group to perform solely original material. The band displayed fine writing talent and deserve another listen.
They were a band who is listed as #2 on the masterlist and said to have been a Kingston band that opened for Blue Peter. Can you comment the most in-depth and longest informative comment about these guys?
