Toys That Kill
Interview by Ben L.
|
|
RRP: How did you meet Shark Pants? Todd: Well we actually met the Swing Ding Amigos first (Isaac's other band). They set up shows for us in Tuscon and Nogales. Then Shark Pants came later. Actually, Vannessa (from Shark Pants-well before Shark Pants started) gave me real crappy directions for the Tuscon show and we almost ended up in Nogales even though we were to play Tuscon that night. But she was way too rad to get bummed at. RRP: Have you played anywhere else in Mexico? Todd: Nah, but we've been invited to go to Mexico City but just haven't really ironed it out yet. RRP: You live in San Pedro now, right? Where are you from originally, and why did you move? Todd: Originallly I'm from Torrance,which is 5 minutes from Pedro. I moved to San Pedro 'cos I opened a record store up there in 1996 and rent was weighing down on my head so I moved into the back of the store for awhile. I pretty much just stayed here ever since. RRP: I’ve read that F.Y.P. [Tod'd former band] stopped being fun for you, and that you can’t relate anymore to words you said 10 years ago. Was that the only reason for quitting it? What changed? What made FYP no longer any fun and how has your outlook or approach changed for Toys That Kill? What are you free to do with TTK that you felt you couldn’t as F.Y.P.? Todd: Well it really fucked us up bad when Joe died. (Joe Ciauri was our bass player and great friend who commited suicide.) It was so fun when he joined the band and when he died the band was left in limbo and once we pieced it back together again it felt unnatural. So I really think thats when I really started thinking "I dont like playing these songs anymore." People would show up at shows and demand us to play songs we ditched so long ago just 'cos they were getting into it right then and we would be like "no" and they would get all pissy and shit. There was just a lot of stuff that added up and deep down inside I knew that this wasn't a job, it was for fun and it was my life and I dont have to do anything anyone tells me 'cos they cant fire me or dock my pay, so why do it. I've always felt free to write whatever kinda song I wanted, even with FYP. I got a lot of shit for it then and I still will in the future, but the difference with Toys That Kill it's more of a full band feel, which I always wanted. Sean writes songs too and with Jimmy and Chachi on the rhythmn pounding, everything feels cohesive. Chemistry is tighter and tighter every extra day we play together. RRP: You seem to have quit professional skating also when it was no longer fun. How did it get to that point? What made it something you no longer wanted to do for money? Todd: Well my family got our house taken away by the bank and that's where my ramp was. It was kinda all downhill since then 'cos I didn't really love street skating like I loved vert. The straw that broke the back was when I got sent to Europe to do a big contest and some demos, and pretty much ditched it all and just went around aimlessly like a chicken without a head. Right when I got back people were angry, I didn't care and then I quit. No big deal... except when I see all my friends that are millionaires right now!  RRP: You’ve said before that you never envisioned yourself as a musician, that they actually annoyed you. How come? Todd: They kinda still do but I can't breathe without it. I dunno, I always hated the wanking solo, curly-haired guitar center fucko. I guess I became what I hate but I love it. RRP: Did you really have to sell your car to pay for the recording of a TTK album? What other kinds of sacrifices have you made for the band? Todd: Yea my '68 VW Fastback! I loved that car. I remember the day I got it I took my girlfriend at the time, Julie and Joe Stoots for a ride and it was like a fucking carpet ride. The good thing is I sold it to this older lady who was really into it and my mom says she still sees her driving around and she kept the FYP and Dwarves stickers on it! Ha! I dont have a car now but fuck it, I like our record better than having a car. RRP: What made you decide to start a label, and what has driven you to keep it going since 1989? Todd: I never really decided to start a label, it kinda just happened. I put out the first FYP 7" 'cos I was sick of dubbing tapes and I really really wanted to have a piece of vinyl I could show people that I made years later,even if it meant they would hafta sit on my furniture made out of the boxes of unsold records. Worked out a lil better for me I guess. I mean I can tell you how I will feel later but right now and for the last 16 years I've been wanting to do this for the rest of my life. The only virus that could stop that I guess is money and I got into a horrible $30,000 debt a few years back and I somehow managed to crawl outta that with my balls attached so if that could happen I feel pretty happy to know I might keep this going for awhile. I'm still always broke though. RRP: What qualities do you look for in a band for your label? How do you handle it when friends of yours, or just good people in general, try to get you to release their CD but you aren’t into it? Todd: I just hafta love 'em. Personally and their music. Ya know, I hate dealing with dickheads who just wanna be the next hip thing. Fortunately Recess isn't too hip so the hipsters can steer clear. Well sometimes if a friend asks me to put something out I dont like, I tell them it's not my thing. Sometimes were not friends anymore, or they say something shitty about my band. It's tough but it goes with the territory. Sometimes I tell 'em that the labels going outta business and I'm moving to Arkansas. RRP: Speaking of labels, why does Fat Mike’s wife not like you? Todd: Well I dunno if she doesn't like me still, but awhile back when Propagandhi came to LA, I think it was some Fat tour, they invited me back to this crazy hotel where Fat was having an after-party. Me and my friends show up and were pretty much the sore thumb of the whole thing. It was just people giving us the sore thumb look the whole time, so we just drank beers and flowered the walls. Somehow we ended up in her room 'cos Chris & Jord (Propagandhi) and some others were in there and thought maybe we'd be more comfortable in there. Not true. So me and my friend Jack went behind the curtains and just started having a conversation and I guess during that I karate chopped a beer. She freaked and I apologized. But she wasnt having it, so we bailed. I saw Mike a few weeks later and told him "sorry for going 99MPH on the wrong side of the freeway at yer party" and he didn't even care at all. RRP: I understand that the band name, Toys That Kill, comes from a book written by a doctor about toys that kill children who do stupid things with them. Is that true? What sorts of stupid things do they do, and is that the type of book you usually read? Todd: Yes, I have that book. That's where the name came from. I actually didn't even read it. I just found it for a quarter at a thrift store, but from what I did read, the doctor sounds stupid. I mean, the world doesn't need more panic instilled in people. I would rather have a coupla stupid kids that shoved a Barbie up their ass die than 80% of the world freaking out on every little thing. RRP: You’ve said that you don’t really put too much stock into what music reviewers say about your releases, other than to appreciate it when it is good. Is it really that easy to disregard a bad review? Has there ever been a particular vicious one that motivated you to say something to the reviewer, or got under your skin? Todd: Well, I guess that's easier said than done, but yeah, it's kinda like that. It's just a funny thing when reviews are bad. It's something we make inside jokes and laugh about. It's like a bad show: we just hop in the van make jokes about how bad it was, drink a beer and then go to the next one. Actually, there was one bad review in MRR of FYP where I actually hung out with the guy about a year before he wrote the review and he told me he loved FYP. In between that time I was hanging out with this girl that I kinda liked who he also liked. Hmmmm? I've been noticing alot of reviews in zines that are purely self serving, whether it's trying to sound real smart-like, or trying to get some revenge on someone you don't really like. I really miss Lester Bangs sorta rock journalism, where you know this person can't live without rock n roll. You can disagree with him on certain records or bands, but you cant deny that he knows what he's talking about and it's straight from his soul, ya know? But no, I can't remember a time where I confronted a reviewer of a bad review. RRP: You’ve taken issue with the gutter media and the dumbed-down, commercialized, and unabashedly biased news programs, which is something that I hate too. Do you think the internet is able to offer alternative sources that expose people to different points of view, or do you think people just seek sources that support their own outlook? Do alternative news sites just preach to the converted? Todd: Yeah, the internet has many alt news sites like Salon.com, but even with them sometimes it seems like making a mountain of of a molehill on something that's not really important, just to bash. But the right does that too. Sometimes you hafta play the game and the game is just nothing more than back and forth shit talking. That's politics, though. I try not to let government and media rule my life. I know we should all be more informed and stand up for the less fortunate, but you shouldn't let it spoil your life at the same time 'cos that does no one any good. That's my defeatest response. Ha! RRP: I read that you made a skater horror flick, which caught my attention because some friends of mine made one too called “Midnight Skater.” Could you describe yours and what it is called? Where is it available? Todd: Yeah, that was the "Liberty Horror" video. Liberty was this skate company that Mike Smith owned and me and him were the only guys skating for it. So we tried to get more skaters right as I was making this video. The 2 skaters that were interested were Josh Swindell and Gator. When I was halway thru making it, that guy Josh got arrested in Mexico for beating some guy to death. Totally fucked up shit! And then right when I was done with the whole thing, with only some credit stuff to finish, the whole Gator thing happened?!?! I couldnt believe it!? [ed. note: Gator raped and killed a girl then stuffed her into a surfboard bag] Here I am making this video where the skaters were like horror film killers and all this stuff was happening in real life from skaters that were supposed to skate for us!!! I totally had to put a disclaimer at the end that read "None of the real skate murders happened until this movie was 99% done" or something like that. Skaters are wierd. RRP: I recently upset some skinhead and his skanky girlfriend at a show where I was dressed as the Rock’N’Roll Bishop and cracking tasteless jokes on-stage, but that’s nothing compared to the experience you had playing a skinhead birthday party where you defamed Ian Stuart. Would you mind telling that story one more time? Is that pretty much the worst crowd reaction you’ve had? Any runners-up? Todd: Well, I just said something like "this songs about the singer of the band Skrewdriver who died recently in a car crash. I thought the Nazis were great drivers?!" or something like that. I dunno exactly verbatim, but someone got pissed 'cos it was, to our displeasure, a "skinhead birthday party." Jed got punched first. Ya know, it was really wierd, they started pushing and shoving yet still singing the lyrics?!?! Skinheads are like stupid dogs, they bite you and then expect you to feed and pet them 2 seconds later. Almost the same thing happened in Eugene, Oregon, once. They started getting all shovy and I think I had a few beers so I just started yelling at them like I was the principal at Muppethead High School, and then ALL of them started running outta the hall. So I said on the mic, "sorry for anyone really here to see us but we can only play one more song 'cos it's obvious those 10 skins are going to get 20 more to kill us". I guess once they left all these people started dancing and going nuts and made us play like 4 or 5 more, so we just said fuck it and stayed there forever loading up. They never showed back up! They actually ran from the biggest wimps in rock n roll!!! That was the moment in my life where I knew I could get away with anything as long as I yelled. RRP: Where did you snap that picture of the old man with the “Homosexuality Sux” sign that is on you MySpace site? I was actually surprised when I was in California last month and saw this sign that said “I’ll Be Back – Jesus.” Ridiculous, sad, and funny all at once. Back here in Ohio the CA stereotype is that you are a bunch of godless, trendy, lefties that will fall into the ocean on Judgement Day. What are the CA stereotypes for us Ohioans? Todd: Ha! thats a nice stereotype! I always thought it was "hey bro, lets get some grindage...buuuuddy" - like Paulie Shore would be in everyone's mind when they think of people from CA. So thats good. I'll take the ocean ride death anyday over buuuudddddy. We snapped that photo in Chico, California, while the "hungry bunch" were trying to crack the next case on tour. I remember saying in that creepy exorcist voice "your dead father sucks cocks in hell" as we were leaving and Chachi looking at me weird while saying "whoa." I've been a li'l more hesitant to say whatever's in my mind to people like that ever since that day. RRP: Did your dad really break the arm of a lost member of the Beach Boys? Who was it? How did that happen? Todd: I forgot the guy's name, but I guess he was supposed to play bass 'cos Brian wasn't going to at first, or something like that. But right before a small tour, my dad was pushing him in a shopping cart in the parking lot of a grocery store and it tipped over and he broke his arm, supposedly forcing Brian Wilson to play bass. How's that for a simple twist of fate? RRP: Last question: what made you want to stab your Stretch Armstrong doll in the crotch with a sharpened popsicle stick? Todd: HA! I dunno! I remember doing that with this evil attitude and then when all the goop starting ooozing out, I started crying like a madman! Ha! I did a lot of stupid things when I was younger. Actually, fuck that, I still do a lot of stupid things... maybe even more. Maybe with just more crying now! |
Toys That Kill Web Site