The Pukka Orchestra was an award-winning Canadian ‘new wave’ band based in Toronto, Canada in the 1980s and 1990s and became an important and revered contributor to the ‘Queen Street’ music scene of that era. After a long hiatus, The Pukka Orchestra completed a new album in 2023 – Chaos Is Come Again – of reworked, remixed and remastered tracks from its two prior recording sessions that never saw the proper light of day.
The album was mastered posthumously after the death of Graeme Williamson in 2022, the voice and writer of The Pukka Orchestra. Released by Pacemaker/Cadence Records, Chaos Is Come Again includes liner notes by Alan Cross.
For the bandmates of the late Graeme Williamson, getting his songs heard and his legacy sustained were the most important inspiration. Producer Neil Chapman had recently finished producing Graeme’s solo album, Because You Were There, and hearing his voice and words and songwriting again, so close and intimately, made him want to pull out the unfinished Pukka masters from the late 80s-early 90s and rebuild them to today’s standards and perspective.
Besides the obvious truism that every human life is important, part of the inspiration for their single, “Every Man and Woman is a Star,” there is the astonishing fact that stars that go supernova are responsible for creating many of the elements of the periodic table, including those that make up the human body. The song also draws inspiration from Graeme’s desire to seek out opportunities to play music. Although success is validating, he knew that being true to yourself is what will bring contentment, rather than fame.
“As is everything Graeme wrote, it’s an important message, straight to the listener, wrapped in a catchy tune,” says Iris Williamson, Graeme’s surviving widow. “The lesson I always take from hearing Graeme’s work again is that he effortlessly elevates a simple, every day phrase to reveal its fundamental truth.”
