SKATE
ROCK
Toxic
REASONS
It was a mysterious arrangement
to begin with. The female voice at
the other end of the phone simply
said to be at Club Wolfgang's that
night, to bring a camera and check
out the band Anvil Chorus. Further
Instructions detailed that it would be
an advantage to do so. Well, I went,
via a late Christmas party for the
Tower Records' employees, and
came through the front doors and
faced the backs of a vibrant crowd of
Metal rockers pumping manacled
fists towards a raging Anvil Chorus.
Anvil Chorus enraptured the young
crowd of early-teen female lovelies
and Rock 'n Roll boys to the likes of
nocturnal carnivorous lunar activists.
When the band plays a song enti-
tled Blue Flames, my forced reposi-
tioning is in order. The young mass
rears and vibrates. An arousing re-
sponse
After the show, an attempt to get
backstage proves not quite as easy
as other clubs. But special words
and tactics found myself amidst a
crowd of the likes I wasn't quite ac-
customed to. I knew no one in a
crowded room of people planning
parties that I'd never attend. "Some
girl called me on the phone and told
me that one of you guys in the band
skates," I loudly voiced to a few of
the gentlemen who had just been
onstage. "Oh, you mean Doug. He'll
be up in a minute. I think he's still
down there surrounded by mini-
teens," the bass player William Skin-
ner voiced. The whole time some
guy who looked kinda like Luke Sky-
walker, was taking pictures like as if
this was Van Halen or something.
Then the wailing guitarist roared in
the room, saying plans about mov-
ing equipment and words of parties.
We talked briefly and made arrange-
ments for a skate photo session.
Two weeks later circumvented
bouts with the flu. When finally the
rendevous took place, the place
chosen for terrain was not a ramp,
not a pool, not an embankment, but,
the famous 9th Ave, run in San Fran-
cisco. His board choice was ran-
dom. Very random. An old BAHNE
without grip tape, super wide trucks
and downhill speed wheels.
"What difference does it make? A
skate's a skate," he said. It was
"Anvil Chorus" live on stage at
Wolfgang's, S.P
crazy. He did things no Pro rider
would've ever attempted on that i
board. He roared up and down the
sidewalk. At one point he ate shit at
the curb beefing hard on his elbow.
Doug said that it had been a long
time since he had ridden and was
beginning to think that maybe he
had grabbed the wrong board. Plans
evolved and our destiny found us
atop Twin Peaks for some curb
grinds. It was difficult because of the
fourists coming and going. Doug
had a flashback from his past, took
off his belt and strapped it around his
board, "Remember the old belt
around the board trick?" He jumped
around, the tourists wondering
"What the hell?" It was decided for
him to jump over the curb for 'photo-
effect. It wasn't 'til after the first try,
when he came back all dirty, did he
notice that there was a cliff there.
"Does he have a death wish?" a
lady from New Jersey said from her
rental car.
Anvil Chorus, as Doug de-
scribes, "are not really categorized,
but are closest to a heavy metal type
of music at times, but also very pro-
gressive and less assaulting at other
times. Using crowd response for a
gauge, it's safe to say that Anvil
Chorus is brutally good. For more
information on Anvil Chorus write:
P.O. Box 27252, San Francisco, CA
94127.
NIL
HORU
XREASONS
PAISTE
Bruce Stuckey-Guitar/Vocals
Rob Lucjak-Guitar/Vocals
David (Tuffy)-Bass/Vocals
Jimmy Joe Pearson-
Drums/Vocals
Energy in the hands of some mere
mortals is often dangerous. Thus is
the case with Toxic Reasons, who
at this point make their home base in
San Francisco. Toxic Reasons
were originally formed in 1979 in
Dayton, Ohio. They've toured exten-
sively, with 40,000 touring miles and
five dead vans behind them. Two of
the band members are from Eng-
land, one from Canada, and one is
from the U.S. They plan to tour, to-
wards the end of February, out to
New York. Once there, they plan to
KILL BY REMOTE CONTROL
and Bruce at the On Broadway
10
sell all of their gear and hop on a
plane to England, where they will
hopefully base in Liverpool and play
all across England before branching
out to the continent and playing
every venue across Europe.
Toxic Reasons, to those of you
who haven't heard of them, are a so-
cially and politically aware punk
band, Influenced by all relevant
music and life itself. They've just re-
leased an album, Kill by Remote
Control on Rough Trade's U.S. la-
bal, Sixth Intemational. The album
maintains every ounce of the energy
that the Toxic's command in their
live performances.
This is evident in the first three
cuts on the first side of the album
with the extra volatile songs; Stuck
in a Rut, Destroyer and Junior's
Friends Junior's Friends has the
statically unsettling line, And you
wonder why/So now it's your turn to
die/So stick your head between your
legs and kiss your ass goodbye."
As well as being one of the (if not
thee) most favorite club bands in
San Francisco, they have drawn a
somewhat "Skate Core oriented
following. In fact Toxic-drummer,
Jimmy Joe Pearson is among the
ranks of the urethane wheeled gen
der and is frequently seen shredding
the streets of the metropolis.
(Toxic Reasons are interested in
people who can book shows either
here in the U.S. or in Europe, also
places to stay etc., or anyone who
can supply any helpful information
on their local scenes.) For Toxic info
write:
TOXIC REASONS
c/o Rough Trade
326 Sixth St.
San Francisco, CA 94103