Information/Write-up
Calgary’s short-lived but ferocious punk band The Sturgeons carved out their place in Canadian punk history with a single blistering 7-inch in 1980. Released on Social Blemish Records, their lone output, Punk Rock Virgins b/w Forward Disorder, has since become a cult favorite among collectors and fans of the KBD (Killed By Death) punk canon.
Limited to just 500 copies, the record captures the raw, jagged energy of early Western Canadian punk. With a sharp, sneering delivery and wiry guitar attack, the A-side “Punk Rock Virgins” echoes the biting sarcasm of bands like The Bureaucrats or Stiff Little Fingers, while the B-side “Forward Disorder” veers into more chaotic, angular territory—arguably the deeper cut for die-hard fans.
The band’s exact tenure was brief, and much of their history is shrouded in obscurity, but their influence and presence on the early Calgary punk scene was felt, even if fleeting. Notably, frontman Al Charlton would later resurface in The Von Zippers, playing alongside the bassist from Riot 303, another key player in Calgary’s early punk movement.
Both songs were later reissued on the highly regarded Smash The State Volume One compilation, which helped reintroduce The Sturgeons to a new generation of punk historians and vinyl collectors. The band’s lone single remains a jagged gem of Canadian punk—a relic of youthful defiance, regional grit, and DIY ethos.
Al Charlton went on to form The Von Zippers and started the Rotoflex label, which released a series of 7" records.
-Robert Williston
Al Charlton: guitar, vocals
Virginia McKendry
Sandy Switzer Hutch
Richard Valleau
Produced by the Sturgeons
Engineered by P. Slupski and B. Morice
Recorded at Fog Eye Studios
500 pressed
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