MUSIC

Twenty years seems to be the magic number. That's how long it takes for a defunct band from the eighties to begin generating interest again. Just look at how many old metal bands have reunited and are currently touring the world. Is that ever going to happen with Toximia? Absolutely not. That's why I created this archive. These are the only known recordings of Toximia to be in existence. If you have any additional audio or video of Toximia, please let me know. I'd love to post it here.

Live Recordings, 1987-88

I've put these at the top of the list, because I feel that our live performances are most representative of what we were, and what we were becoming. We played old material way too fast, and we played our new material even faster. Because we didn't play many live shows, and even less of those were recorded, most people have only heard our LP, "War". They don't know that Toximia had written most of a second album, which was played live, but never recorded in the studio. It was to be called "Peace Through Annihilation", and you can hear some of it in these live performances, recorded at the old Animal Hall in Brooklyn.

"WAR", LP, 1987

It's hard to listen to the WAR LP and feel that it represents Toximia. They even misspelled our names on the back cover. Unfortunately, this is the only way most people have to remember us. This album is really just the demo tape remixed, with four new songs added. These new songs were written at a time when the NYHC scene began getting popular with suburban metalheads, the very people it was trying alienate. We fit that description, and were definitely being influenced by the hardcore/metal crossover that was taking place. We had always listened to bands like Slayer in the past, which were metal bands playing hardcore beats, but now we were actually listening to the hardcore bands themselves. their influence is evident in songs that were written for the LP, and weren't on the demo. So what we wound up with is a record that is half metal, half hardcore, extremely brief, and not representative of a band that was changing with the times. But overall, I'd say that Toximia's "War" is a pretty good example of early thrashcore crossover.

"Another Beautiful Day", Demo, 1986

This is how we got started. These were the five original tracks, recorded in 1986, which would be remixed and become part of the LP one year later.

"Another Beautiful Day", Demo Slaves, 1986

These rough mixes are an interesting little curiosity unto themselves. They're obviously unmastered, and sometimes you can hear us talking between songs. There is also a guitar solo in "Mammoth". Who knew? Apparently, Dave gave it his best shot, and we decided not to release the song with the guitar solo in it. Since the original tapes have been lost, if it weren't for this cassette that I kept around for twenty years, I never would have known that Dave played a solo.

Dead Image, "The Most Bass", recorded 1991, remixed 2006

Originally recorded in 1991, but never mixed, these tracks sat unfinished for fifteen years. In 2006, curiosity got the better of me, so I dumped the tapes to hard disk, and mixed the project. Had I continued playing music after Toximia, this would have been my new band.

Mister Pickle, Live at Animal Hall

Paul Meaney and I used to cut school, hang around in his room, and write stupid songs together. We called this project "Mister Pickle and The Lesbian Truckers On Dust". It was fun for a while, but I was always busy with Toximia, so Paul took the idea and ran with it. The name was eventually shortened to simply "Mister Pickle", and they were awesome. They didn't care what anyone thought of them, and did things on stage, in front of rooms filled with bikers and skinheads, that I would be embarrassed to do alone in my house with no one watching. The definitive Mister Pickle lineup was Paul Meaney on guitar, Glen Johnson on drums, Bryan Miller on bass, and Steven "Esteban" Park on vocals. My bias in this matter aside, it is one of the great tragedies of our modern age that Mister Pickle never made it out of Brooklyn. They are among the unsung musical heroes of the twentieth century. And when you hear songs like "You're Ugly But Your Tits Are Big", I'm sure you'll agree.