Nash the Slash was a pioneering LGBTQ performer. A new book and film shed light on the enigmatic Toronto rocker

Hamilton Spectator

2 days ago

His face was wrapped entirely in bandages, and he dressed in a custom tuxedo, top hat and sunglasses. He played electric violin, mandolin, synthesizers and even a glockenspiel, experimenting with tape loops on an analogue reel-to-reel tape recorder. And he used effects pedals to manipulate sounds in a way no one in Canada had done before.
He called himself Nash the Slash and he was a true one-man band, a unique blend of compositional skills and performance chops. And a new book and upcoming documentary aim to shine a light on this mysterious artist and his singularly strange career.
Born Jeff Plewman in 1948, Nash was a middle-class Toronto kid who never quite fit in. Trained as a violinist, he eventually saw the nascent punk movement of the '70s as a venue to utilize his rigid training and express himself in a way that the world of classical music would never allow. Nash needed to kill Jeff to become the man, and artist, he wanted to be.
His performance career started in 1975, when he played original music to soundtrack silent art-house films at the infamous Original 99 Cent Roxy Theatre on Danforth Avenue. Living behind the projection booth, he was like a modern-day Phantom of the Opera; after the theatre closed at night, he'd toil on his music and make as much noise as he wanted into the morning.
He played in a few bands early on, most famously the prog-rock trio FM. Their first album, 'Black Noise,' was released in 1978, but before their song 'Phasors on Stun' became a minor hit, Nash left the band, seeking autonomy and control (though he would rejoin FM at various times in later years).
Nash the Slash performs live in his gangster guise.
Bandaging his face for the first time in 1979, Nash never looked back. His live shows became sensations — multimedia spectacles that included his inventive playing, film projections and fire breathing. On occasion, he'd even set his violin alight. Ever the innovator, he designed his 1981 EP 'Decomposing' to be playable at any speed. To listen to his records now is to miss half the story; Nash was a true performance artist who came alive in front of an audience.
Catching a Nash gig in 1980, synth-rock star Gary Numan (of 'Cars' fame) tapped him to open his upcoming European tour. That gig led to support slots for artists as varied as Iggy Pop, Devo and the Who. Nash's reputation in the U.K. and Europe soared, but back at home, he never cracked the mainstream, despite getting radio play on CFNY in Toronto, self-producing several videos and making regular appearances on Citytv's 'The New Music.' His highest-charting album in Canada, 1984's 'American Band-ages,' peaked at No. 79.
Promoting 'American Band-ages,' Nash opened for Toronto band Spoons and appeared in the video for their top 40 hit 'Tell No Lies.' These efforts introduced Nash to a younger audience, even if that exposure never amounted to much in the way of record sales. The crowd response to Nash, Spoons keyboardist Rob Preuss told the Star, '(was) always great because he really was a true showman. He was like Liberace, but with a violin instead of a piano, and with bandages instead of sequins.'
Nash managed his own career, did his own marketing and publicity and ran his own label, Cut-Throat Records. In 1997, he wrote a book about his experiences in the record industry, which is just now getting published: the manuscript for 'Cut-Throat: How to Survive the Music Business — and Survive' (Skill) was discovered by the makers of the upcoming documentary, 'Nash the Slash Rises Again.' The book also contains new interviews with admirers such as Numan, Steve Hillage (of Gong) and Bill Nelson (of Be-Bop Deluxe).
In addition to electric violin, Nash the Slash played mandolin, synthesizers and glockenspiel.
In retrospect, it seems appropriate that an artist who never failed to surprise would come out publicly on stage in 1998 at a concert during Pride Toronto. Why did he hide for more 20 years?
Toronto was a different place in the '70s and early '80s, rife with homophobia: in 1974 four lesbians were thrown out of the Brunswick House pub and later arrested for playfully singing a song; dozens of men were arrested and beaten by police in the bathhouse raids in 1981 (partly inspiring the first Pride parade); and gay patrons were regularly pelted with eggs in front of the St. Charles Tavern.
This open antagonism toward the LGBTQ community helps explain why a queer artist might want to strive for anonymity by masking himself completely. 'Only about 20 people knew who he really was,' said Colin Brunton, writer and executive producer of 'Nash the Slash Rises Again,' adding that Nash loved the sense of 'great mystique' it created.
Nash the Slash staged a surprise motorcade down Yonge Street in 1984 to promote the release of 'American Band-ages.'
According to Trevor Norris, executor of Nash's estate, the artist 'felt two feet taller and 10 years younger' when he had the bandages and costume on. He could alter the getup and a whole new character would be born: gangster, motorcycle cop, invisible man. Nash could be whoever he wanted to be, hidden behind the mask.
An early pioneer of electronic and industrial music, he often imbued his work with darkness and anger. But to hear Brunton and Norris tell it, Nash was also a devoted friend.
'He was a genuinely really good and kind person,' Brunton said, 'with a wicked sense of humour,' which is obvious in his campy covers of songs like Jan and Dean's 'Deadman's Curve' and Bo Diddley's 'Who Do You Love?'
Nash the Slash plays the harmonica at the Corktown Pub in February 2000.
Declaring that he was 'hanging up his bandages' in 2012, Nash died two years later, without much notice in the music press. Still, his custom-built skull-shaped mandolin is on display in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and the National Music Centre in Calgary houses one of his costumes.
'I'm very pleased to have shared my creative endeavors with so many people around the world,' Nash wrote on his website, announcing his retirement. 'I hope I've left a few breadcrumbs in the forest, to inspire others to find their own path.'