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Old 08-09-2005, 09:33   #4 (permalink)
Flash@TMB

 
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Flash@TMB is an honor to be around with 125 reputation points.Flash@TMB is an honor to be around with 125 reputation points.Flash@TMB is an honor to be around with 125 reputation points.Flash@TMB is an honor to be around with 125 reputation points.Flash@TMB is an honor to be around with 125 reputation points.

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location: The Moorings Bar
joined: Nov 2003
posts: 2,732
bands: just don't leave your instruments behind after a gig ;)
talents: the saxophone... badly

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Here's some more information...

Toxik Ephex were founded in 1983 (I think although there may have been an embryonic version prior to that). The definitive line-up was:

Dod - lead ocals
Freddie - lead guitar, backing vocals, and occasional lead vocal
Frankie - rhythm guitar
Mikie - bass
Chiz - drums

Freddie famously dressed up as Denis The Menace, and features on the cover of their "Adventures of Nobby Porthole. The Cock of the North" album.

The band played almost entirely original material, mostly written by Freddie. They did also perform the odd cover from time to time, such as a Rezillos "Up Against the Wall" or SLFs "Doesn't Make It Alright".

At one time the band were offered £65,000 to sign a mojor record deal but famously turned it down. Seriously. Although the amount tends to vary every time I hear that story between £20,000 and £100,000... but you get the idea.

http://www.topplers.net/artists/toxik/toxik_ephex.html

Toxik are arguably the greatest band to come out of Aberdeen. Of all the Aberdeen bands that "almost made it", Toxik came the closest. Their material is melodic, aggressive, chock full of political comment, and relevant even today. Classic archtypal punk rock at it's very finest. They are perhaps more highly regarded among their more famous peers than anywhere else. Which speaks volumes. Search them in Google to see what I mean.

Toxik briefly reformed in 2002 without Keilan taking over from Freddie on guitar. They stupidly asked me to manage them. Highlights were the reformation gig at The Moorings and a fantastic support slot for The Dead Kennedys at The Forum. We had a plan to record Take You Share for the first time - live of course. So I started experimenting with stereo miking etc. Then the band broke up again. Needless to say I carried on and now fortuitously the band have reformed and The Moorings is kitted out with a state of the art 24 track digital Sydec Soundscape system. So guess what we're going to do!

The current line-up, probably the strongest ever is as per the classic one but with Keilan substituting for Frankie on guitar, and doubtless providing some backing vocals too.

Among the stand out tunes IMO are:

Playing with Fire - written about the Piper Alpha equally applicable to any crop or political disaster, especially one involving fire.

Shades of Grey - one of the earliest examples of a enviromentalist song. Cracking lyrics.

Do You Care - about old people

Take Your Share - anti nuclear energy protest song, only ever been performed live, with masive audience participation chorus "I don't want no nuclear waste in my garden, I don't want to turn my backyard into a bomb"

Maggie / Tony - take your pick of PM and change the lyrics to suit. Scarily they still make sense 20 years later...

Ahkaminecuzahwizbleezin - a song about getting pissed, usually sung by Freddie

And there are many, many more believe me!

So whether your an old fan, or have never heard Toxik before this is shaping up to be one of the great gigs of 2005. Back in 2002 we couldn't fit everyone in the bar, and ended up with 30 people sitting on the street outside. Fortunately the bar is a little bigger now. Want to have your voice present on the chorus to "Take Your Share" the great lost gem of Toxik Ephex back catalogue, never previously recorded? Then get your arse down to The Moorings for this
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The Moorings Bar - Corrupting the youth of Aberdeen since 1965: http://www.myspace.com/themooringsbar


"If Capital punishment makes the state a murderer then life imprisonment must make the state a gay dungeon master." -Rev. Jesse Jackson


Please contact our promoters for a gig: fudgemusic@hotmail.co.uk


"From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away." - Raymond Chandler
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