Yellowknife (Dec 12/03) - Thank God for parents with large wallets and limitless tolerance for punk rock music blasting from the basement.

Having led their peers with two consecutive wins at the annual Rock the Folks event, teen punk sensations Illegal Relations -- most of whom are still in high school -- are striving to take their band to the big time with their soon-to-be released debut CD, Candy Coated Razor Blades.

The Yellowknife foursome's drummer and principal songwriter, Shawn Taggert, said it was a thrill to take the band's sound from the basement to an Edmonton recording studio.

"We had these guys come into our basement and try to record us once," the 18-year-old Yellowknife resident recalls.

"I don't want to say it sounded bad but it sucked. It was nice to be in a real studio," says Taggert.

Funded by the NWT Arts Council and two of their dads, the CD took two weeks to record. With only eight songs, it's a short disc -- clocking out at about 20 minutes -- but the band says fans will appreciate the newer songs, some of which have never been heard.

"There's a couple songs on there that haven't really been played at our live shows," says Corey Francis, the group's lead singer and guitarist.

"We didn't want to put on all our old songs that everybody's been hearing for the past three years."

One old-time favourite that did make it onto the album is the quirky little ditty Monkey Bait -- a story put to song about a terrifying encounter with a rabid simian.

"That's about a dude getting eaten by monkeys," explains Francis.

"Some dude drew me a picture in class of a monkey sitting in front of a big plate, and I went, 'ya,'" adds Taggert.

Although they're excited with the CD, the group says finding a venue to play their songs is still a major problem in Yellowknife.

They have a show lined up for Fort Smith next month, but so far nothing has been set up locally to showcase their new CD. All four members of the band are under 19, making it extremely difficult finding a place to play.

"You can't really rent a gym because that other band (Good Enough) in town tried to set up a show and they got shut down by City Hall," Francis laments.

Nonetheless, the band hopes to take their sound on the road, perhaps this summer. Their advantage, as they see it, is that they're young and have nothing to lose.

Besides, they're a pretty good band whose on-stage antics -- body painting, dancing with homeless people -- continue to draw attention.

"It'll happen, we'll start touring," says Francis. "Life will be good."