Toxic Revolution

Done 2008 as well. The band just released a new split 12", but due to the fact that all of its members play in countless other bands as well not really active anymore. Anyway one of the best bands from this area.

It’s about 10 pm, Toxic Revolution just finished their set at the last show that’s ever going to happen at the Luna Bar in Münster, a former brothel turned into some kind of a club which is about to close its doors forever. Toxic Revolution played a short but brutal set, very tight and veeeeery fast, even though the bass sound seemed to make some problems in the beginning. Anyway the band ripped through about 20 songs in about 20 minutes and then left the stage for Alpinist, who are also from Muenster and should be interesting for fans of His Hero Is Gone or From Ashes Rise and bands alike. Since the interview was planed a long time before I was quite happy I finally got the opportunity to talk to at least two guys of this three piece...

„Who has influenced us?!“ That’s all Jan from Toxic Revolution has to say besides “Don’t even know them” if you ask him if the band Sigur Ros were an influence for them, because they also invented an own kind of secret language. But if you listen to Toxic Revolution it’s pretty obvious that they were influenced by 90’s Powerviolence and Grindcore bands, not artsy pop outfits. Although Toxic Rev have in fact no real lyrics in some parts of their songs. “I have to say, what I scream or shout, has at least a certain kind of meaning. I scream words that make sense. Christian is just screaming what’s on his mind somehow.” But if you have some phantasy left in your head you can come up with your own interpretation of the “lyrics”. “I listened to it at home when we were done with it (the recordings) and thought like ‘wait, what could that mean?’ And so I came up with I think one or two verses afterwards. They also fit to the song titles, I had to come up with them too, because Christian was too lazy.” So you may ask who is in that band, that plays blistering, raging Powerviolence and has no lyrics for the most part. Jan says “I am the drums”, then we have “…Christoph and I play bass and try to sing” and last but not least but not taking part at the interview "Christian Chaco plays the guitar and also tries to sing, that’s our Brüllwürfel“ (that’s impossible to translate...). So back to the lyrical content, Christoph explains “Well I have thought about at least some parts”, whereas Jan has a slightly different opinion what the lyrics are about: “We do it like German Punk bands, just about boozing, beating the shit out of nazis...” - “that’s not true at all”, Christoph interrupts, “I also have lyrics about the media, about how they pollute our minds.” Later he also states that “...maybe I’m too much into Hardcore and Punkrock, so I think that, what I scream, even if nobody understands anything, has to have a certain meaning.” But this band has to say way more, not only about the media. At one point during the interview, Ollie, a friend just hanging out there with us and reading stuff about mice with incredible big penises, asks the band what they think about the fact that the Giant Hogweed is the poisonous plant of the year 2008. “I would take it home with me” Christoph answers without hesitating, Jan needs a little bit more detailed information before he wants to give a statement about that topic “I have to ask if you can smoke it”. Well, you can’t, that’s at least what Ollie says about it, but you’ll have a bad rash breaking out from touching it. “My mother has that in her garden to scare little children” Jan recalls. Good to know. So what releases can you get from that band that shows such an interest in toxic plants? There is of course the demo, which is awesome, and then there’s the split CD with Androphagous “On F.D.A. Rekotz by Ricö. He’s from Berlin and it’s basically a noise label, only Grindcore stuff. And I think Christian, who’s not here now, who’s not into doing this right now, they knew each other, because in this scene it seems like you know each other anyway, and he also likes the music.” By the way, Androphagous is another band Christian plays in, but there are quite a few more: “He plays in Keitzer, then he’s playing in Bruno Henry Gonzales, but that’s more some kind of an Amos rip-off. Do you know Amos? He’s awesome. But that’s more like a two men show with keyboards and changing clothes during the set and stuff. At one show they put cream in ballons and then threw them onto the crowd, who didn’t think that was funny, understandbale if you ask me, and another time somebody with a chainsaw ran through the crowd. Musically he’s very diverse, I think he also has a surfband” Christoph explains. “Los Makacos and Sandokhan”, Jan adds. “Yeah, Los Makakos is the surf band, and Sandokhan is basically the same as Toxic Revolution and Androphagous, just plain blasting.” “But shorter” Jan knows, “Yeah, and I think they’re only two guys”. So what holds the future in store for Toxic Rev? “Quite a few things”, explains Jan, “next thing that’s planed is a split LP, if we’d hit the studio sometime.” “Nonono” Christoph interrupts, “you have to explain that different. Jan is soon going on tour with Alpinist for two weeks. We have seven new songs now, we’re going to write two or three more when he’s back again - that works pretty fast in that Powerviolence genre – and we’re going to record them where we’ve also recorded the split CD.” That’s going to happen at “...Werner Wiese Studios in Werne, where also Krautbomber, NeinNeinNein, Sidetracked, Sniffing Glue and The Italian Stallion recorded their stuff. And those seven + ? songs are going to be released on a split LP with Magnicide from Malaysia, on TVG Records, that’s some old guy who also released stuff by Bloody Phoenix or Yacoepsae.” “And we’ll carry on that tradition” expresses Jan maybe a little bit proud. So can we hope for some kind of tour or something? Unfortunatly this will not happen in the nearer future with Toxic Rev. “It’s hard to do, I’m working in shifts, also at the weekend, and Christian is doing quite a lot with Keitzer now, because they have just released a new record on Yellowdog, and they recently were on tour in the USA and have many shows booked in the near future. We’d love to do more then what we’re able to. I mean, we would have the opportunities, but it’s so hard to work it all out, even though we’re only three guys in the band.” Well, Jan makes it plain to me that he’s not the problem “I could do it anytime. I’m the only one in the band who’s not guilty.” Not surprisingly, somebody this dedicated can tell a few words about the foundation of the band: “That was while having a few beers in the USA. We were drunk in the USA and just said ‘come on, let’s just make some noise’, and that was that.” Of course, that’s not the whole story, at that point Toxic Rev only were Jan and Christian. Christoph describes how he joined forces with them: “The story is, that you guys posted two songs cut from a rehearsal on myspace, where there were only you two guys in the band, and I simply asked ‘yo, do you need a bass player?’ And they were like ‘yeah, cool’, and I was in.” So what’s left unsaid, after media terror, beers, Grindcore and neophytic tall herbs? “Work is overemphasized” (Jan). Support those guys.

Toxic Revolution on myspace.com
TVG Records
FDA Records

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