Information/Write-up
The Sidewinders were a Toronto-based rockabilly and country-punk group formed in early 1981 around Robin David Masyk—soon to become known as Handsome Ned—and his brother Jim Masyk. They emerged directly from the Queen Street West ecosystem at a moment when punk and new wave dominated the downtown conversation, yet the Sidewinders pushed in the opposite direction: loud, fast, original honky-tonk and rockabilly played with zero irony and full commitment.
The band grew out of an earlier Masyk brothers project called The Velours, whose setlists mixed early Elvis Presley material, Velvet Underground cuts, and originals—an unusual blend that reflected their pre-punk influences as much as their growing fascination with roots music. In early 1981, the group locked into a sharper, more aggressive rhythm section with Ronny Azzopardi (bass; formerly of The Next) and Jimmy Weatherstone (drums; of The Demics). With that lineup in place, they changed their name to The Sidewinders and quickly became a bridge between scenes: rockabilly in attitude and vocabulary, punk in volume and momentum.
Their early break came through association with the Viletones, opening shows and drawing the same downtown audience that had previously come for snarling punk energy. The Sidewinders didn’t try to “modernize” country—they simply cranked it up, made it fun, and made it theirs. A key distinction of the band, noted by collaborators from that period, was their emphasis on original songwriting rather than endless covers, giving the project a forward pull that separated them from most contemporary rockabilly acts.
In 1983, the Sidewinders recorded a batch of studio tracks engineered by Rich Dodson at Marigold Studios in Toronto. Two of those recordings became their defining single: “Put the Blame on Me” b/w “Cryin’ Heartache Misery” (Handsome Records H-101). The A-side, in particular, introduced what would become Ned’s signature writing style—direct, emotionally clear three-chord country poetry delivered with a towering voice and downtown urgency. The single remains one of the earliest and most important recorded documents of the Queen Street country movement that would follow.
While the Sidewinders were short-lived as a distinct unit—eventually giving way to projects such as the Running Kind, the Handsome Neds, and later the New Neds—their role is foundational. They were the band that proved a downtown Toronto punk crowd could be turned toward country music played straight, and they helped set the conditions for the Cameron House Saturday matinees that became the weekly social hub of the scene.
-Robert Williston
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