UJ3RK5 (sometimes written as U-J3RK5, and pronounced "''you jerk''" — the five is silent) was a

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

-based band from the late 1970s. Their style was

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

/ new wave, but was more

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

than synth pop.

History

UJ3RK5 was formed by Vancouver visual artists Ian Wallace,

Jeff Wall Jeffrey Wall, Order of Canada, OC, Royal Society of Canada, RSA (born September 29, 1946) is a Canadian photographer. He is artist best known for his large-scale back-lit Cibachrome photographs and art history writing. Early in his career, he h ...

and

Rodney Graham William Rodney Graham (January 16, 1949 – October 22, 2022) was a Canadian visual artist and musician. He was closely associated with the Vancouver School. Early life Graham was born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on January 16, 1949. ...

in addition to Kitty Byrne, Colin Griffiths, Danice McLeod, Frank Ramirez and

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

host David Wisdom. Their self-titled debut EP included "Eisenhower and the Hippies," a song inspired by a work of American conceptual art proponent

Dan Graham Daniel Graham (March 31, 1942 – February 19, 2022) was an American visual artist, writer, and curator in the writer-artist tradition. In addition to his visual works, he published a large array of critical and speculative writing that spanned ...

. The EP was originally released by the independent label Quintessence Records, with a second pressing on Polygram of Canada. After a short time, the members disbanded, returning to concentrate on their art careers. However, their music continued to be played and recorded. The ''Oh Canaduh!''

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s featured two covers of UJ3RK5. "Eisenhower and the Hippies" was covered by

Man or Astro-man? Man or Astro-man? is an American surf rock group that was formed in Auburn, Alabama in the early 1990s and came to prominence over the following decade. Primarily instrumental, "Man or Astro-man?" blended the surf rock style of the early 1960s, ...

and "Locator" by Servotron. The songs "U-J3RK5 Work for Police" and "Naum Gabo" were included on the 1979 compilation album ''Vancouver Complication'', which was re-released in 2004 on CD with extra songs by Sudden Death Records, and then in 2007 as a 2-LP set with even more extra songs by the Italian label Rockin' Bones. In December 2016, Primary Information (co-publishing with Emily Carr University Press) released ''Live from the Commodore Ballroom'', a 2-LP set limited to 600 copies. It consists of a soundboard recording of their complete opening set for

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...

on May 26, 1980, includes seven previously unreleased songs as well as performances of the four songs from the EP and "Naum Gabo," and is now out of print. UJ3RK5 was featured in the 2010 documentary film ''

Bloodied but Unbowed ''Bloodied but Unbowed'' is a 2010 Canada, Canadian documentary film detailing the rise and influence of the punk music scene in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. History ''Bloodied but Unbowed'' was produced and directed by independent filmma ...

'', directed by Susanne Tabata."Vancouver Complication"
''Canuckistan Music'', Michael Panontin

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Vancouver Canadian new wave musical groups Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups disestablished in 1981 1979 establishments in British Columbia 1981 disestablishments in British Columbia