“…Canada’s most hateful and hated band.” *
Toronto Scene Mag, April 1989

Manager Dennis Himmler first met Iggy, Skippy, Joey and Percy in November 1987 in London where the band was struggling to break though in the crowded English punk scene. Himmler worked closely with the boys in late 1987 to refine their signature angry punk sound, and then persuaded the band to move to Toronto, where Himmler had been living for several years.

Himmler’s vision was to turn the Canadian punk scene upside down, and send shock waves through polite Canadian society. The four British glue-sniffing, Nazi skinheads soon proved that they were up to this mission. They quickly got to work producing and preforming rock that shocked.

Recordings were made at a house they rented on Howland Avenue, in the Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, near their favourite performance venue Lee’s Palace. Dead Pope and Jesus was a Punk were among the songs written when the band was still in England, and were the first songs to be recorded in the “Punker” (the Howland punk bunker). Soon songs like Yonge Street Slam and Violence Is a Blast began to reflect life in their new home.

The live performances often featured Iggy “playing” along to the music with power tools and toy instruments. He was frequently abusive and insulting to his audiences. Even when extreme, the abuse didn’t alienate fans, it fired them up – it was part of what everyone came to hear.

Himmler had been thinking about touring even before the first album was finished. He had become aware that there was a place in Canada where the OFO brand of hate and intolerance might have traction: rural Alberta. A six-city tour was hastily arranged, and band headed west. The miscalculation about the tour was that though hate and intolerance was an important part of the Alberta psyche, punk was not. Bored Stiff (live in Red Deer) was added to Nuremberg Alibi at the last minute as a souvenir from the ill-fated tour.

And then there was the band’s infamous relationship with industrial strength solvents and glue. Joey in particular relished these alternatives to mainstream drugs, and it took its toll. On recordings Skippy often erased and rerecorded Joey’s bass tracks. For live concerts Joey was left to flounder.

The fan base was curious. A big part of it was “Iggy’s Army” – A group of loyal head-banging punks and skinheads. But there was also the surprising presence of historical-area graduate students from near-by University of Toronto, laughing along with the band’s outrageous music and behaviour. They became some of the bands most loyal followers.

Following the release of Nuremburg Alibi, the band moved quickly on to their second album “O Canada”, which more forcefully reflected the boys’ disgust with Canada and Canadians. They explored new ways of insulting and enraging. Fan favouites included Caligula, Prom Night Blow Job and Canada Goose Step. Live performances of Canada Goose Step featured Iggy goose step marching around the stage with sieg heil salutes as Iggy’s Army slam danced front and centre.

As quickly as OFO made its dent in Toronto punk, the dream started to unravel. After the release of “O Canada” Himmler suddenly announce that he had to get out of Canada quickly, “for tax reasons”. Shortly after this, following a particularly abusive on-stage asalt by Iggy, OFO was banned from preforming at Lee’s Palace. It wasn’t too long before other venues refused to allow OFO performances.

In short order Himmler’s financial backers cut off the tap, and money was quickly running out. Disbandment was now just a matter of time. Percy was the first to leave, going back to his family’s estate in England. Iggy and Joey weren’t far behind, leaving Skippy holding the master tapes and an eviction notice.

Only Skippy was on anyone’s radar in the years that followed, living under an alias in the US, possibly in Nashville. The band’s third album “More Songs About Nazis and Glue”, was never completed, but four songs were ready to go when the band dissolved. These never-before-heard songs debut on this web site.

About This Site

Hi! My name is Devin Cornwallis. My dad Declan Cornwallis was a proud member of Iggy’s Army and saw countless OFO performances. By the time “O Canada” was released he was close enough to the band to help with the sales and distribution of the albums and merchandise at the performance venues. He soon became a part of the OFO inner circle. His reflections of those heady days in the late 1980s forms the foundation of this history.

When I was growing up in the 1990s in the Annex, Dad frequently played the OFO tapes at home, and my brother and I danced up a storm to Jesus was a Punk, September Glue, Canada Goose Step and others.

Skippy had long since moved on to other interests and had never re-released or archived the music. I thought this was a shame, and I wanted to do something about it. Dad was still in occasional contact with Skippy, and he passed on Skippy’s contact information to me. I approached Skippy with the idea of presenting the OFO collected works on a web site. To my great joy he agreed, and in time he sent along digital masters of the 32 recorded songs. Now, 30+ years after their last performance, the OFO legend lives on.