Interview: Toxik Ephex

Toxik Ephex comes from Aberdeen, just like Jolly Bob. They're playing punk and they have a very special sound. They have been around since the 80.s but I hadn't heard them before the end of 2011. This is just a part from the entire interview that will be published in Schizo #8 which will be out in May 2012. If you haven't heard Toxik Ephex, take a listen to the Youtube video in the end of this interview. A big thanx to Fred who answered my questions. 

Hello Fred, Do you please wanna introduce the band? Current members, and other info. And also, how did you pick your name and what does it really mean?

Currently, the band line-up is
Inspector Blake – Lead gtr, backing vocs
Dod Copland – vocs, jokes, mayhem, flashing lights and magic tricks
Dave Wilkinson – Rhythm gtr, backing vocs
Frankie Benzie – Rhythm gtr
Chiz Pirie – Drums
Ross Cunningham – Bass

Our name … well we started out as ‘The Abductors’. However, due to a high profile child abduction in Aberdeen, shortly after we chose the name, we had to consider changing our name … although we did hang on to it for about a year after. ‘Toxik Ephex’ came from a pharmaceutics textbook which sat permanently on my desk when I was employed as a pharmacy technician on leaving school.

How would you describe your music?

We describe our music as melodic punk … as we would the majority of early punk which inspired us to form a band in 1979. The UK Subs were the biggest influence on my early songwriting, I thought they wrote perfect punk songs.

You have your own label where you released your first 7", is it still active? Any other cool releases on that label?

The label is no longer active, but it could easily be resurrected if we chose to. I still have the original artwork for the label. Don’t think I would produce vinyl again tho, it’s too big an outlay for a band who just play a gig every once and a while when they feel like it. We released the Toxik Ephex/Oi Polloi split album ‘Mad as Fuck’ on Green Vomit as well as an EP by Distorted Truth entitled ‘Victim of the Law’ The Adventures of Nobby Porthole was a joint venture between Green Vomit and One Up Records.



Do you have much problem with EDL/SDL in Aberdeen?

We have a National Front which formed a couple of years ago and has stood for local as well as Scottish parliamentary elections….. they have not done particularly well. They have only very recently had an application refused for a march in Aberdeen …. scheduled for 20th April – Adolf Hitler’s birthday. I don’t have a lot of good to say about our local council, but I applaud them for seeing sense and stopping the application in it’s tracks.

And so to answer the question directly, we have a potential problem which needs keeping a close eye on, but the NF have not really achieved anything of note in Aberdeen.

How active are you nowadays? How much do you play live, and is there any upcoming releases?

We do about two or three gigs a year. It’s difficult to do any more than that. I am a self employed musician and have gigs almost every weekend with a ceilidh band (Iron Broo), so it’s difficult to squeeze in Toxik gigs. We have some new songs, but it’s a struggle getting everyone together to rehearse and record them. Runnin Feart Records are looking to release them on vinyl, but I suspect Runnin Feart will be ‘Runnin out of patience’ if we don’t get our finger out.

Review: The Cremators - The new breed (CD)

The Cremators - The New breed (CD)
www.thecremators.com
(www.heptownrecords.com)

I am not a big fan of psychobilly but I love rockabilly and punk. And that is what The Cremators are about. Ok, there is some psychobilly vibes but punkabilly is a better definition. And it was a pretty long time since I heard anything as good as this. I remember a band from around 2003 called the Hung-Ups or something like that. But The Cremators are more classy. The music is very well played. And what's better than a good rockabilly guitarsolo like in "Bundy's beetle". Even if bands like Mad Sin, Coffinshakers and Klingonz are big influences for The Cremators will I say that they have their own sound. It's more punkrock. I already know that I will listen to this record many times in the future. And it would be very fun to see them live as well. This album contains of 13 strong tracks.

Schizo 8 frontpage

There's just a few things left to do so I really think Schizo Fanzine #8 will be out in May.
This is the definitive result of the frontpage, and it's Billi from Buiten Gebruik/Sangre/Boycott
on the picture. I am really satisfied with it's contents. 6 great interviews, scene reports, reviews,
articles and more. 56 pages with loads of text. I hope you will enjoy it when it's out.

New Schizo ad

Use this in your fanzine or on your blog or whatever... Click on  the pic to get it larger
Size: 130 mm X 50 mm. Resolution: 300 dps

current distro list

Click on the pic for a bigger version...

ads in schizo #8

Ads in Schizo Fanzine #8. Please, click the banners for a lot of good punk.

Interview: Really Fast Records

Ohoy! I guess you've heard about the Really Fast compilation LP's? It's one of the most important releases in the entire punk history, and the swedish scene in particular. Bands like Mob 47, Nasum, Asta Kask, Disfear, Strebers, EATER, Refused, G-Anx have participated. I sent a bunch of questions to Staffan, one of the guys behind Really Fast. Here's a part from the interview, the full interview will be published in Schizo Fanzine #8. 

1. Hey Staffan, you’ve been involved to the DIY-scene since the beginning of 1980. If you look back, what’s the biggest differences between the past and the present? And is there anything you regret or just wish you could’ve done better when it comes to Really Fast? And of course, you wasn’t alone with the R.F work, tell me about the other guys?

Well, looking back can be both easy and hard depending on your view on things. One might forget the small details that also made a difference when trying to summarize a period of your life, but here goes: Whether it just came to be a result of personality, young age, shortage of money, hostile environment, lack of experience or just a mishmash of random opportunity I'd say we had to find more solutions for ourselves back in those days. It made you look for creative solutions instead of just buying what was around and already accepted.

We would have our imagination run amok just trying to make things happen and finding ways in any direction we thought we could find an adventure. At the same time, a lot of uniform behaviour would rear its ugly head and some gigs or places were just not so well treated by people I would have expected better from. Everything seems better organized these days, but some of the DIY charm seems lost in the process. I don't like to dwell upon regrets although I've had my fair share of them. I just wish I could have done more back in the day, but that's a good incentive to keep doing things. Future now. Yeah, and in the beginning I was just so lucky to be starting up a label with my older friends Peter and Patrik in Mjölby. They both played in Nasty Boys and were a huge inspiration and fuel for fire for me back in those days.

Patrik and me have kept Really Fast going for better or for worse and we kinda get into a good rut when we get things done for Really Fast. There wouldn't have been any Really Fast Records if Patrik hadn't been around, I'll tell you that.

2. Your last release was an EP with Second Thought around 2003 (?) Are Really Fast still active and do you have any futureplans? Which band would be the dream to release?

Yeah, we've been doing other things for many years now but last year saw a new Really Fast release in the form of Spotlicks debut EP (co-release with Mög Records). We are planning more releases during 2012 but I'd rather make them happen before talking too much about them. I will say this though, that I do regret us not relasing Vol.11 as we had it all compiled and ready to go years ago. It would have been great to document those bands aswell as they deserved it and had a lot to offer then, now and in the future to come. As for dreams there are just too many bands I would like to release, it's frustrating just to think of it. We had several ep's planned that I still wish we can put out someday, sorry to everyone involved for the wait and poor result so far.

3. If you have to collect bands, for a compilation, that exists today, who would you choose then?
Oh, I think I would have to go for bands that kick my butt live! There are so many bands around but it would be great to pick up bands from smaller places like when we started. I would rather have bands that actually exist and get their noise out on the road than bands that just record. A lot of energy would be required aswell.

[RELATED STUFF]

Really Fast on Facebook
Spotlicks (Staffans band) on Facebook
Spotlicks interview from Schizo Fanzine #6

Kurt i kuvös (Staffan played drums in that band in the 80.s)

Interview: PARTiYA from Belarus

Here is a part from the interview I made with PARTiYA from Belarus. You can read the entire interview in Schizo Fanzine #8 which will be out in May 2012. I've also got a great Belarus scene report from Mysh that will be publish in Schizo 8. Belarus might be a strange country with a fucking dictator, but their standard when it comes to punk/hc/grind is really high. Thanx to Mysh for the answers. I can really recommend you to read the entire interview when Schizo 8 is out. And don't forget to take a listen at Partiya... here we go...


 

Hello Mysh, what's up? What is going on with PARTiYA at the moment?

Hello Micke! Everything's fine. We've started recently to play with our new bass-guitarist. Now we're restoring our material. I hope, we're gonna play concerts and see you all very soon! Today we can already do that with 15 songs. 3 of them are new.

What have the reactions and reviews been on your last release "Assholeraisers"?

Basically only good reviews. And we'd like to thank everybody for that! There were some remarks about density of the sound. So far we have what to strive for. I hope, you'll get some denser and stronger records by PARTiYA! By the way, our vinyl "Assholeraisers" is gonna be quite soon available, it's already in print. I hope next week it will be ready.

What is your lyrics about? Do you prefer to write in english or russian?

I write in Russian. My English isn't good enough to write and think in it. Maybe one day, when my English gets better, I'll try to use it in my lyrics. But I've been writing them only in Russian so far. The lyrics of PARTiYA are quite different. The subject can be my personal feelings or the global problems. Everything around me I care about or what I'd like to pay more attention to. In our CD covers you can find all the lyrics, comments to them are also included in some of the releases. And we've been also making some translations to English lately.
http://primitive-distro.blogspot.com/p/partiya.html - here you can find some of the records from the discography of the band for downloading and listening to. File-archives mostly include also the CD covers with lyrics and their translations. Those who are interested, can easily download them. If you're intresting in CDs / DVDs / vynils, then go here - http://primitive-distro.blogspot.com/p/primitive-distro.html That's the link to the «PRIMITIVE-DISTRO», that I keep, there you can also find the releases of PARTiYA, that are available in distro now. We can also to trade, but please, write first for what exactly.

Please, add what you want and tell us what will happen in the future?

It's always really hard to speak about plans, as it's going quite often not the way you plan, but anyway I hope, we're gonna realize the planned. As I've already said, PARTiYA's LP «Assholeraisers» is coming out extremely soon. We may make some new records this year and we also plan playing in the «PLAY FAST OR DON'T» fest (Czech Republic) in july, and also making a mini-tour this month, when we're going to Czech. This fall we're planning a tour with the band HUMAN COMPOST in France and Spain, maybe somewhere else. We'll see if everything works out and I hope, we're gonna cope with all the problems around us. There's also a problem to leave this country for a tour cause of the visas, borders, but we do our best not to stay in one place and we'll do everything we can! Thanks for the interest to our PARTiYA band, for the good questions, and also thanks to Veronica, who helped us with translation!
Cheers / beers and potato from Belarus, hehe. Greetings to all our friends! See you soon! Good luck!

Here're some contacts with us:
okpunkrock@gmail.com
http://primitive-distro.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/partiya

Schizo Blogg

This is the 100.th contribution on Schizo Fanzine Blogg. And it have been over 

10.000 visits now. Thanx for that. I hope you will continue to read what I write. 

I am waiting for answers from 2 bands to Schizo Fanzine #8, I will see if I get them soon, otherwise will I probably interview some other bands that care to answer. I am very satisfied with #8 so far and it will be hell of a lot for you to read The bands that have answered my questions so far is: Sub Alert (Swe), Subculture (UK), and Gaz from Inner Equilibrium/Ungovernable Resistance. My intention is to get answers from Opposition Rising (US), Toxik Ephex (Sco) and Staffan from classic Really Fast Records. There will be a bunch of reviews, scene reports, articles and more fanzinerelated stuff. 56 pages, full of text text text text... print it for free and you have something to read for many visits at the toilet.

Cheers! Have a good spring. I will get married in May and in the autumn will we take

a trip over to Glasgow. So please, if you know any good gigs there in autumn, let

me know. And of course will we see The Bhoys play at Celtic Park. 

All for now... Bye!

Review: Troublemakers - 30 (CD)

Troublemakers 1981-2011 (CD)
www.troublemakers.se
(www.heptownrecords.com)
What is your first thoughts when you think of the Gothenburg music scene of today? Hammerfall, In Flames... but fuck them. Troublemakers is the shit. This is a compilation with songs from their 30 years long history. "Staden Göteborg" is probably one of the best songs ever hailing from that town. It's just a shame how bands like LOK and Hardcore Superstar destroyed that song. Troublemakers have a genuine punkrock sound, and a huge list of hits. They also manage to do the old Nationalteatern song "Bara om min älskade väntar" brilliant. It's a disgrace that I don't listen to Troublemakers more often, they are one of the best swedish bands in this punk genre. Maybe it's the Gothenburgian dialect that disturb, but no, it's actually fitting their sound. It's lot of good melodys, good lyrics and energic punk rock n roll. This CD offer you 80 minutes of the best Troublemakers ever released + a new song just for this jubilee record. It can't be better than this.

Pass Out from Stockholm

Here's one of my old band - Pass Out. We were active in the mid 90.s and made around 50 gigs. I made this video for fun. The tracks is recorded in two differents moments. I still like some of our songs and sometimes I wish that we could do a reunion. Please, feel free to comment. And if you want more info, send an email to schizodistro@gmail.com Enjoy!

Pass Out - 1. A few minutes 2. Passed Out 3. Oi! Oi! Hey Hey

Barney McKenna R.I.P

The Dubliners, one of my all time favorite band have lost yet another member. It's the banjo virtuoso Barney McKenna. It's one of the best banjo player I've ever seen. He has done so much for this genre. I can just hope that he's sitting on a cloud up in the sky and playing his banjo together with Luke Kelly & Ronnie Drew

Barney McKenna Rest in peace
(December 16, 1939 - April 5, 2012)

Interview: Ungovernable Resistance

As you probably know by now are Ungovernable Resistance back. In Schizo Fanzine 8, which will be out in the end of April/beginning of May will you find a long interview with Gaz from UR. I decided to do a smaller interview because of that UR is back. But I didn't have enough of space in Schizo 8, so the UR interview will follow here. But don't miss the Inner Equilibrium interview in #8, Gaz has always a lot of good things to say...

For more info: http://innerequilibrium.blogspot.com

 

1. Hey again, you decided to start up UR again, what's the reason to that?

Hej brother.
Since ending Ungovernable Resistance I had focused on other music mainly UG Hip Hop with a few random punk/hc/drum n bass shows. As you know from our many conversations and the recent interview I had grown so disillusioned with my place in the scene. I was completely burnt out and tired of the all elitist cult like behaviour and snakes. 

After a few months I started to speak to friends on and offline such as ya self about returning with a punk/hc show, but doing it the way UR was founded upon. LOL I was going to call the return of my punk/hc show 'Stressed Out', but when I asked for feedback the majority of the responses were bring back Ungovernable Resistance.

What has been really encouraging and refreshing is that many of us whether punks or hip hoppers feel the same about our scenes, and are tired of all this destructive bullshit that divides us and spreads further division. That has been the case from the people I know anyway.

The many words/emails received have meant a lot to me man and helped me find my spirit again so I could return with UR. As I always said way back at the start of UR someone has to do this and help DIY.

Thanks to friends and people I know from around the world I'm more determined than ever to do this once again do with UR the way it always was.I'll not let misguided elitists and sheeple with alternative clothing who have no basis or concept for actual reality hinder my efforts.

Ungovernable Resistance is back. DIY.

2. Will it be any major changes now?

Good question.  Actually no. I'm not abandoning UG Hip Hop so the only change is that Wednesday editions now follow this format. First 2 Wednesday's of every month will stream punk/hc and the last 2 Weds air UG Hip Hop.

Saturday shows are always punk/hc. Its tempting just to play punk/hc all the time as its my favourite music, but I don't wish to become burnt out just playing the same music. Therefore, streaming UG Hip Hop twice a month on a Wednesday gives me something different to play.

3. And you're working on a gigantic compilation, what's your expectation for this comp?

Yeah its been insane man and its growing so fast. I started the project myself with the aim of releasing a compilation that would be equal to the size of the first FCW (Fuck Corporate Wank) compilation.  I wanted to send a message that unity has not disappeared entirely and I will try my best with UR to promote this concept. So what better way than to work on a compilation that would be as large as possible.

When I stared to recruit for the new UR compilation a few friends started to help by submitting bands and working on art work. Arthu from the Agamenon Project who has always supported UR sent me some art work with the title 'We Are Back' as he was really pleased that I had returned with UR.  James from A World We Never Made (UK DIY Punk label) submitted a few bands and he has always been a good friend of UR.

So it seemed like the natural thing to do was to say to hey do you guys want to work on the compilation as a joint project? Everyone was stoked about that and then we were joined by Glauco from Death From Above who is interested in submitting Brazilian bands for the compilation so its grown even further.

There is such a buzz about this compilation from us all and its growing so fast that it is hard to keep it updated. We are determined to send a positive message and to announce that the grass roots people and bands work for nothing that we must work together to keep this going.

My expectation is that the We Are Back compilation is going to be the biggest project we have released so far. Its already led to me helping James (A World We Never Made) and Nate from Greed Force with a DIY electronic music compilation, which they were already working on. So awesome stuff!

If anyone is interested in the 'We Are Back' compilation then feel free to contact either me or James at @ innerequilibriumdiy@gmail.com or AWWNM @ aworldwenevermade@hotmail.co.uk
The deadline is the end of May and we want to make this beyond gigantic as you said in ya question. Help us grow!

4. Ok, anything else you wanna add?

I just want to say a massive thank you and big up to all the DIYers whether you are a punk/hip hopper or anything else. I was really touched by the emails and words of encouragement including the support I received from genuine people out there that reminded me why it was I choose to embark upon my projects.

Also tack to you to Micke as you have also been there since day one and recognise that we have got to change our thinking to build our music communities or we will always remain divided.

People not scenes! Namaste. DJ Resistance.