1. How hard do people punch in your pit?
People don't punch in our pits. Our pits are wierd and spacey, because in our songs we have a lot of changes and our songs are usually longer than your average moshing song so what happens is everyone will get up and run into eachother and do all that but somewhere in the song they'll have to make up some sort of weird dance to accompany the new beat. Back to the punching, our fans are mostly peaceful, weird but we're all pretty peaceful and fun-loving...we mosh with respect.
2. Who in your band plays what, and for how long now?
At this point, Myself and Ben are the original members of this line up. We've been jamming in basements for a while now. After our original drummer had to be kicked out because he couldn't play the way we needed and also because our bassist of the time hated him (by the way, this bassist was a dick) Alfy, a close friend of Bens took over and that really propelled the band forward in our sound a lot. We've been kind of cursed with bassist's I think...We've gone through 3. We think we'ved found a permanent bassist in former toxic roadie Josh. Josh may not be the best bassist, but what he lacks in talent he makes up for in spirit and funny noises.
3. Why did you decide to name your band Toxic?
Toxic is an interesting name to me, especially because it has several pretty cool stories that I think once told gives you a better grasp of where the music comes from, or not, the stories are cool anyways. The first is probabley the most important, as it was the first instance in which the word toxic was brought to my attention in a way that I could really examine it. Sheldon Kleeman is a Philosopher/Chef from Philadelphia that happens to be close friends with my family, Some of his philosophy is a bit hard to decipher but once thats done there's a good amount of truth to it. Anyways, he presented a new meaning for the word toxic, his meaning was that Toxic was a measure of ones own feelings good or bad...for example if you heard a piece of music either truly touched your heart or made you wanna puke, it was all toxic. The Second comes from a Self help book called The Toxic Parents which was about parents who abuse drugs and alcohol and how it effects their children mentally. There's actually a series of books on the topic. Third, as a young kid growing up when I did and where I did, I glorified drug use to a certain degree and I always thought it would be cool to have a band called Intoxicated but I decided to shorten it to Toxic (this one was only really valid for about a week). Four, the final one (although I know there's more which I'm not remembering) is the enviromental aspect of toxic. For those who don't know, I'm a bit of an enviromentalist and I suppose I've been fascinated with nature and the constant balance between civilization and the wild...so as we grow, we produce waste (toxic materials) which spread throughout the land and Toxic stood out to me as being striking and dark. Note: I know the metal implifications of the name Toxic are a bit overwhelming to some, and most people here our name and picture us as some spandex wearing 30 somethings, but I think those people simply can't look past pop cultures stereo types.
4. Where are you all originally from?
The foundation for Toxic was begun in East lyme, Connecticut but for a
while now we've called Philadelphia our home.
5. Is there any defining moment of wanting to start a band, or was it some way to use the garage?
Hmmm, you know I'm sure all of us in the band have had many defining
moments, too many to list I'm sure. If I have to think, I'd just have to
narrow it down to several...1)The Smashing pumpkins and Sponge were two of my
first favorite bands, so listening to their music definetly made me want to
play 2) The first time I heard Bad Religion, I almost cried. They had
embodied everything I was looking for in a band at that moment. The first
song I heard by them was "Do What You Want" and I immediatley went out and
bought Suffer, it's certainly had a huge impact on me 3) When I first got
Dinosaur Jr's Fuzzy Little Things e.p. I wasn't too fond of it...but soon it
grew on me and since, Dinosaur Jr. has become one of my favorite bands. The
music has inspired me a lot.
6. Are any of the members single?
Well, as it is I'm not quite sure where the other members of the band stand...because of summer vacation I haven't been able to talk with them as much as I'd like. All I can say is Im single and I hate it. Girls don't like me like that.
7. Have any of you had any crazy concert experiences, either at a show you went to or a show you played? (i.e. girls flashing after rushing onstage, eating a twinkie out of anyone’s crack, etc.)
That's a weird question. Well, as none of us are players or all that attractive (although, Alfy has is the heart throb) we don't attract that kind of behavior like bands like Poison or Motley Cru would attract. However, we do have these two people (for security reasons I'll just use their initials) Mr. S and Ms. J met at a Toxic show a while back (I believe it was their first encounter) and have been dating pretty much ever since so they're basically the toxic couple and at our shows when they're not moshing or doing an Irish jig they're sometimes kissing...that's about as exciting as it gets
like that. Things do catch on fire a lot as we play though, that is one thing that sometimes happens.
8. Do any of the members have a pre-show ritual or food?
Ben likes to relax and get centered before every show, so we usually go outside the venue or wander into some old room and we all talk and just try not to have panic attacks before going on stage. I usually like to lock myself in the bathroom (if the bathroom has a lock that is) and drink water
and try and warm up my vocals for a few minutes. I like to make sure the last song I listen to prior to the show is one that I enjoy very much, to get me off to a good start. Alfy usually walks around and says hi to people, well he did at one of our last gigs I believe. Josh just goes with the flow and hangs out with myself and Ben most of the time.
9. How do you guys spend your spare time?
I spend my spare time listening to music (I'm addicted), writing songs and poetry, creating art (I like to sketch, paint and sculpt and I'm in the process of doing two small comic books) watching good films, reading books that interest me and comics, walking as far as I can in one direction and then calling someone to pick me up in a car, hopelessly thinking about members of the opposite sex and avoiding social situations. Ben likes to skate and watch comedys! Josh enjoys aggressive roller blading, listening to music and making Art/poetry (other stuff to, I really don't know what he does when he's not hanging with me...but I hear it has something to do with collecting toe nails in a jar) and Alfy likes to play drums, I dont know what else, but it should be drum related or else he's in for a good beating.