RIP Canadian punk pioneer Steve Leckie
In the early days of punk, NYC had The Ramones and London had the Pistols. In Toronto, there were the Viletones.
Fronted by the fierce Steve “Nazi Dog” Leckie, The Viletones may have been the first Canadian band to release a single (it may also have been The Diodes, but memories are hazy. Both records certainly came in May 1977. I think.)
The Viletones burned hot and very bright and were soon down to just Leckie with whomever was available. That first single even has a mention in William Gibson’s novel, Neuromancer when it was used as the name for a computer virus. They were also part of the infamous Last Pogo at The Horseshoe in Toronto when things got weird. Steve was with Sid Vicious when he bought the knife that was used to kill Nancy Spungen. A few other recordings followed and the band occasionally got together to stir up some punk rock energy when needed.
Leckie once ran a cool store in downtown Toronto, worked as a spoken word artist, and was an advocate for organizations that addiction and recovery services.
The band never properly broke up and were unofficially still together until June 14, 2025 when Leckie died. He’d been suffering from multiple sclerosis for some time and was battling lung cancer since a diagnosis in 2023.
