Demo 1982

Hunger Project were an early-1980s Toronto post-punk group featuring Liza Dawson-Whisker on vocals, Alan Anton on guitar, Michael Timmins on guitar and Geoff Railton on drums. The band formed in Toronto around 1979, before moving through the New York and London club circuits, and stands as one of the earliest chapters in the story that later led Anton and Timmins toward Germinal, Latent Recordings and eventually Cowboy Junkies.

Their only vinyl release was the 7-inch The Same Inside / Assembly, issued in Canada by Latent Recordings as Latex 3. The record appeared in 1984, although the copyright line dates the material to 1982, and the release credits Dawson-Whisker, Anton, Timmins and Railton in a spare two-guitar, drums and vocal lineup. With no bass player listed, the single sits on the leaner, more skeletal side of post-punk: stark rhythm, interlocking guitars and a vocal presence that gives the songs a cool, uneasy edge.

A surviving demo cassette connected to the group adds three more titles beyond the single. The handwritten insert lists 'Assembly', 'The Same Inside', 'Poland', 'Still Crossing' and 'Imitation Of Life'. Since 'Assembly' and 'The Same Inside' are the two tracks issued on the Latent single, 'Poland', 'Still Crossing' and 'Imitation Of Life' are previously unreleased.

The Cowboy Junkies connection gives Hunger Project an added historical pull. Michael Timmins and Alan Anton were childhood friends, and Hunger Project was their first serious post-punk project before they moved into the more experimental instrumental group Germinal in London. After returning to Toronto, Timmins and Anton formed Cowboy Junkies in 1985 with Margo Timmins and Peter Timmins, eventually reviving Latent Recordings as the label for the band’s early releases.

Latent Recordings itself began in the same early circle. The label was formed by Michael Timmins, Alan Anton, Geoff Railton and Brett Wickens, with Hunger Project’s single sitting among its first releases before the label later became closely associated with Cowboy Junkies. The Wickens credit on the single’s typography also ties the record visually to that early Latent design world.

Before the quiet blues atmosphere of Whites Off Earth Now!! and The Trinity Session, Anton and Timmins were working in a stripped-down post-punk setting: two guitars, hard edges, open space and a small batch of songs that now sit as an important pre-Cowboy Junkies document.

-Robert Williston