What does UIC stand for? 

UIC

U.I.C., which was first an acronym for Unemployment Insurance Commission but was later changed to Up in Canada were a punk and garage rock band from Exeter, Ontario, formed in June 1982 by guitar player Fred "Slack" Robinson, singer John Lindenfield, drummer Murray "Houndog" Heywood, bassman Mike Caldwell and guitar player Ted Treibner. Heywood had started playing the drums with his brother's band when he was 11, playing dances and banquets, doing mostly country covers. He became frustrated and sold his drums when he was 16 but once Fred Robinson, who was three years older, learned how to play barre chords, he and Heywood discovered that they could play as well as the Ramones and Sex Pistols and decided to start a band. The UIC guys used to sit on a hill near their home in Exeter in Fred's car to get good FM reception and hear the Detroit stations that played Iggy Pop and The Stooges, which became one of their main influences. Heywood was more into Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith but was introduced to the Ramones and punk rock and quickly fell in love with it. Since he was not able to copy John Bonham's drumming style, Heywood happily changed for a Tommy Ramone style. Fred's brother, Dave "Smokin'" Robinson, became the singer in December 1982. Eventually, Chris Mittelholtz was added as a sax player. Caldwell was replaced by Dan "Hack" Preszcator at the end of 1983. After the first two albums, Treibner and Heywood left the band to form an outlaw country band named Positively Stompin'. Kevin Kelly replaced Treibner on second guitar and Joey Bechta replaced Heywood on drums in 1990 while Nick Stirling was added as keyboard player and Scott Clatney as a percussionist.

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