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The label is no longer active, but it could easily be resurrected if we chose to.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.