photo courtesy J.J.
Jeff Taylor - guitar
Rome - bass
Jeff MacDonald - guitar
Jay Comely - bass
Cam Frasier - vocals (1994)
Rising quickly out of the ashes of Noisy Bastards, a previous Brantford noisy thrash-punk rock group, Acid Toad Secretion formed with Jeff Taylor on guitar, Rome on bass, Joe McDonald on drums and Jeff McDougall with the vocals.
Quickly they put out their first release “18 Minute Mindfuck” (no information on this album) which would be quickly followed by “Hot Rods and Sexually Aroused Banana Trees” Comparing the previous band Noisy Bastards, Acid Toad Secretion took off in a different direction. Gone were acoustic drums, replaced by a programmed drum machine, a first for a Brantford group in 1990. The guitar playing of Jeff had the same sound dynamics with crunching high end distortion. However more of a metal-industrial influence was appearing in the Acid Toad Secretion recordings. “Hot Rods and Sexually Aroused Banana Trees” has elements of early noise in some areas of its tracks, which would still be followed in their later releases to a lesser extent. This group approaches the noise aspect well before any other known band located in the area, which would only be followed by the later band Loser Parade and then Dirge (Cartoon Khaki)
This later account by Jeff Taylor of Acid Toad Secretion follows the
later development and decline of the band:
Subject:
Re: Acid Toad
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 17:21:56 -0500
From: Jeff Donachy-Taylor
To: Rob Michalchuk
At 09:46 30/01/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Would
it be anything like that A.T.S. stuff? I have Poweriff Superglu,
>and Chelated Metal in my collection of local music. What did you
record
>it with? Actually I'm
>curious about the band, like when it started and ended that kind
of
>stuff. What were your shows like where did you play, those type
of
>questions. I couldn't tell you anything about any drummers though
>sorry, I don't know any. You want our old one :)
Perhaps it would be another installment in the ATS saga - the band never did officially quit, we just kind of dissolved on an extended hiatus due to the geographical location of the other 2 guys (Toronto) and the fact that Rome just wanted to wank on the bass for the entire duration of our "practices". These days, no one sees or hears from Rome, and Jeff2 works all the time (a radical change from the Jeff2 who lived off welfare for the entire duration of his living in Brantford!), so nothing has been done lately, and that's probably my fault! If you or anyone you know are interested in hammering out a bunch of new tunes (w/ Mario the drum machine) in the ATS vein(?), let's talk!!! I'm getting rusty at the Eddie van Halenisms, so I'd better get back at it - soon!
Myself and Karlito also want to form our "dream band" Speedgun Seventeen, if only for the fact that we could have a band with such a cool name!!! For that, we would need a drummer, and probably a bass player, unless someone wanted to donate a bass to the cause (Karl)!!!
Anyway, about the recording...POWERIFF was recorded in 1993 on a 4-track and bounced around way too much, resulting in a rather dingy mix. CHELATED was recorded twice, first on 4 track, then on 8-track late in 1994 in my home studio aka computer room/junk pile room/vinyl library. Jay Comely played bass on it and freaked out shortly after we mixed it because it "should have been heavier", This was my fault - I introduced him to the Melvins and they changed him...in a bad way, unfortunately!
So...we haven't done anything since the summer of 1995, and ATS has been simmering since then. Before POWERIFF, there were three other releases, 19 minute mindfuck, hot rods and sexually aroused banana trees, and toxic nipple emulator! They were all 4-track recordings, but unlike the most recent 2, were mainly unrehearsed and improvised as we went along, and were on the more bizarre side of the industrial/noise/experimental landscape, although I was more a fan of the most recent two and writing songs that actually had something to say and or whistle!
Shows? We didn't do shows until POWERIFF came out, because we couldn't recreate the tapes even if we tried!!! However, when we did, it wasn't with much success anyway (we had our share of SPINAL TAP moments). We were first coerced into doing a show t some batcave place in TO, and at the time the band was me and Jay, so we recruited Shawn Merril to play 2nd bass - the show ended with a duel of guitars and Jay throwing his bass into the crowd!
Other shows included a few K/W- Cambridge shows where TV sets exploded and bass guitars usually flew, and our infamous Jake and Elwood's appearance, where we got a smoke machine and turned it on, only to find all the smoke going out the exhaust fan, as well as an AIDS benefit at the Opera House in TO where Jay's bass survived a massive Jimi Hendrix-esque torching in the middle of the last song (it was a thrill to play on the same stage as I've seen NIRVANA, THERAPY?, and of course, THE MELVINS play on).
After that, more TV's were trashed, we were on CKWR two times, and during Jay's last gig with us, he totaled his bass (and the floor) at Goodfella's 2, almost killing a waitress in the process!
Gotta roll...perhaps I will have a reason in the near future to document this legacy on a website!
Jeffo...
Known Shows
more research needed
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18 Minute
Mindfuck
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Hot Rods
And Sexually Aroused Banana Trees
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Toxic Nipple
Emulator
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Poweriff
Superglue
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Poweriff
Superglue
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Chelated
Metal
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Show Posters
External Links
last updated February 12 2007